City Council - Regular Meeting

Everybody ready? Okay. Well, good evening everybody and welcome to the Adina City Council meeting. It is Tuesday, April 7th, 2026, 7:01 p.m. almost right on time. Uh, Director Benro, thanks for your uh assistance with the with the audience both here and listening to us virtually. Uh as director Benerro said, we've been doing these meetings in a hybrid sort of fashion since the start of uh COVID and continuing on. People are listening in watching remotely. They have a chance to call in tonight only during community comment. We don't have any public hearings this evening. Otherwise, they'll be able to participate in public hearings as well. But as director Benerro mentioned uh even in community comment if it's something that's on the agenda this evening or otherwise scheduled for a future public hearing uh that would be those would be two offlimits topics for um any community comment. So, uh, having provided that information, uh, and we'll we'll also talk to folks, uh, and let people, uh, that are residents or other others that want to speak to the council in chambers speak first and then we'll go to the online folks if there are any, uh, here that want to talk to us. So, having provided that information, I'm going to call the meeting to order and ask our clerk, Sharon, and Allison to call the role.

Council member Agnu here. Council member Jackson here. Council member Pierce here. Council member Risser here. Mayor Hufflin here. Uh, next is the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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.

Thanks for participating in that pledge. Uh, we've got a meeting agenda that's been published. both for the benefit of the council and for residents of our community to see if they're interested in anything on the agenda uh for this meeting. And uh is there anyone on the council wishes to modify the agenda or any from anyone from staff? Okay. Hearing nothing. Uh is there a motion to approve the meeting agenda as published? So move. Second. Member Pierce moves. Member Jackson seconds the approval of the meeting agenda for this April 7, 2026 meeting of the Dina City Council. Any further discussion? All those in favor of approving the agenda for the meeting at hand, say I. I.

I. Opposed? Carried. The meeting agenda is approved. We got something to work from here uh in terms of our guide. And we will next go uh to community comment. And I, you know, we talked about this since um oh after the end of the last quarter, I think and and continuing on to the into the new year, this notion of uh let's try to treat treat each other with civility here uh in chambers and everywhere in life. Uh let's keep kindness as our guide uh for our neighbors and our friends and people in this uh chambers uh especially this evening and uh just you know provide that information again just as a reminder that um we want to always be as civil as possible to each other and respectful. So um I'm going to now turn to people in the audience that might wish to address the council on matters of concern to them and 3 minutes of course is the time that you'll have. You'll get a yellow light when you got 30 seconds left and you should be wrapping up your comments. Um,

all right. Welcome,

mayor, council members. My name is Ralph Sickard. Mayor Hlin, I'm here to reflect on the comments you made during the mayor and council comments portion of the March 3rd city council meeting at the 2-hour 25minute mark. in particular, your assertion that my comments made earlier that evening during community comment regarding the 202 2026 budget and Mr. Neil's moonlighting were, and I quote, inappropriate, disrespectful, and lack civility, end quote. I'll leave it to others to listen to our comments from that night, but for my part, it's your statements, mayor, that were disrespectful and inappropriate. Mayor, you acknowledge knowing about Mr. to Neil's moonlighting. But what you chose not to say was the extent of oversight exercised by the entire council. Nothing about dates or hours worked. Nor did you speak to the use of city resources, evidence of which appears to have occurred at least at some level. Nor did you choose to address the millions of dollars on top of the general levy picked from taxpayers wallets via other taxes or the millions in spending pushed out to future years. To use a phrase you're familiar with, I too consider myself a shareholder of Adina. And for that reason, I'm pushing back on your decision to rebuff a legitimate concern regarding a fiscally unsound and unsustainable budget, which short of evidence to the contrary, only darkens the cloud reasonably hanging above Mr. Neil and this council. Mayor, contrary to your March 3rd statement, Mr. Neil's employment agreement does not call out by name Neil Family Consulting. So, while I acknowledge that manager Neil's contract does allow paid work

outside his role as city manager, in my opinion, there is a world of difference between an occasional stipen for a speaking engagement and a website promoting a 9-to-f5 business venture, especially for a public employee whose base salary is some $260,000. Finally, your repeated attacks on community comment represent a more disturbing behavior. A behavior not calling for decorum, but rather an attempt to intimidate and quiet constituents, much like we've seen recently from other administrations. And yes, there are unanswered questions, but respect is earned. Neither Mr. Neil nor this council has earned it. One, who other than member Pierce was aware that Mr. Neil had established a consulting practice with his son. What reporting did Mr. Neil share real time with the entire council with respect to dates and hours worked? What resources including staff time and documents were used by Mr. Neil to further his website and consulting practice?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zigger. Good evening. All right, must start my time. Good evening. My name is Rick Vining. My address is 6617 West Shore Drive. I believe it was 7 years since speaking here at city council. When I ask AI, things that nearly everyone can agree is beautiful. Sunrises, sunsets, a calm, reflective body of water, and a path along a riverbank or shoreline are among the most common human experiences that evoke awe, peace, and sense of wonder. Some of these universals are currently under threat. There are 91 flags representing trees along the shoreline of Lake Cornelia. 91 trees along the shoreline creates a forest and forever changes this land. On July 16th, 2019, city council minutes show a resolution was passed that stipulated the buffer, height of plantings, and supporting approved plans. These plans and actions had a significant cost of both time and money for designing and execution. Quotes and findings from the planning and execution include the council stressing the importance of lake access and the ability to enjoy the park. Per Doug Mening, senior ecologist with the applied ecological services, savannah plants of 3 feet or less would enhance the emergent zone and improve habitats for fish and frogs. The council stressed the importance of lake access and the ability to enjoy the park. We have witnessed hundreds of people and I'm not even home all the time, mind you, since 2019 take pictures down to the shoreline. Family pictures, pictures of wildlife and sunsets. My personal family pictures were down those down there. Those would not occur if the 91 large trees are planted as shown in the diagram shared. July 4th fireworks would be hidden from those who enjoy sitting at a blanket on the shoreline. This project needs to be halted and the

proper community consultation process needs to occur. I want to stress we are not against trees. They are beautiful and literally give us life. We are opposed to trees not strategically plants planted and arbitr arbitrarily in placement. It's like the city has a budget for trees, needs to plant 91 trees. They just throw them in the small park and get the funds as marked. The objective of being to spend the budget and not beautifification or enjoyment. This area is exceedingly sunny. Uh not is not exceedingly sunny, as enjoyed as it is. There is one proposal also discussed in 2019 that the city council minutes have and that over the last seven years has shown as more favorable facts. This proposal allows the city to never have to maintain the land again. It increases the city's tax base. It also keeps the buffer which we already maintain the land by completing both fall leaf cleanup as well as mowing. Uh at the city council brought up in 2019. Sell the land to us, sell it at market value, tax us for shoreline, and have stipulations such as buffer maintenance and fertilizer restrictions. Even though phosphorus is illegal in Minnesota yard fertilizer. In fact, the leaves from these 91 new trees would harm the lake even more. Leaves falling into lake significantly harm water quality by releasing excess nutrients, particularly phosphorus, during decomposition, which triggers algae blooms and reduces oxygen. It is clear the city of vina parks department's end goal is to not have to maintain the land. Let the community that treasures the space take care of it. At a minimum, please visit the park, walk the shoreline, compare the flags and the tree planting positions. Look at this diagram. Why does it feel like the city of Adina does not consider the people who view, maintain, and use this every day. This is not just city land. It is public's land.

Thank you. Yeah, thanks. I think we've also seen some correspondence from you and your and your spouse. Appreciate that. um input on this issue. Thank you.

Good evening. Good evening, Peter Friedrich. And all we need is your name. Peter Friedrich.

Thank you. Adina is cited by name in a resolution currently moving through the Minnesota State Legislature, SF4115 in the Senate and HF498 in the House as evidence for why it should pass. And I am here because this council should understand what that resolution would do to your city's institutions before your name advances it any further. The resolution directs state and local agencies, meaning Adina's police, schools, and city employees, to incorporate a concept called Hindophobia into antib-bias training. And it calls on the atern attorney general and every state employee to enforce laws against discrimination using that concept. What the resolution does not tell you is that the definition it uses was coined by a member of the authoring organizations advisory council council who meets personally with India's prime minister Modi the leader of India's Hindu nationalist movement and a government whose operatives were indicted by federal prosecutors for plotting to assassinate an American citizen on US soil and who boasted at a rally this new India comes into your home to kill you. A Jewish Currents investigation found that the definition was used uh 75% of the time to catalog not bigotry but journalism, academic research, and political criticism. The organization that wrote this resolution is the Coalition of Hindus of North America, Kona. Kona presents itself as a civil rights group, but its record tells a different story. Kona draws its leadership from India's Hindu nationalist network and 71% of its advisory council has verified ties to organizations linked to Mod's ruling party. Kona opposed every cast discrimination protection introduced in this country. And when asked about coverage of castbased lynchings, a board member called it a Saab story. Four members of Congress signed a letter pressuring a university not to host a conference on Hindu nationalism. Everyone had taken money from Kona's political action committee. Kona defeated California bill protecting Americans from foreign assassination plots

after it passed both chambers unanimously. And the US Holocaust Memorial Museum ranks India under Modi as the top country at risk for a new mass atrocity event. That is the government whose associate coined the definition this resolution would would direct Adina's institutions to enforce. Last night I spoke in Maple Grove where Kona built an operation from nothing in 13 months and secured the police chief, deputy chief and a council member at the capital with Kona's leadership three weeks ago. That is the playbook and Adina is already in the legislative record. In Georgia, where Kona started, a resolution identical to this one has already escalated into a bill writing hindophobia into the state penal code. Anti-Hindu bigotry in this city is real and demands a real response, but not from an or an an organization whose definition of bigotry was designed to capture political speech on behalf of a foreign government. Adina's institutions deserve better than that. If Kona comes to your police department or your council asking for a relationship, you now know what you'd be associating this city with. And I have an information sheet on Kona and this issue for every member of the council.

All right. So, Mr. Friedrich, if you want to give that to our clerk, we'll make that part of the record. Thank you. I'll take you. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Yes. Good evening.

In a way, I should lower the temperature a little bit. My name is Marilene Allen and I am a resident of uh Edina and I intended tonight to speak to you on behalf of support for a crosswalk at Cooper's Avenue on Interlockan Boulevard. And my 14-year-old grandson William was supposed to come and speak as well. He's abandoned me, but he's asked me to read out his speech. And since it's better than mine, and I only have three minutes, I will read his speech if that's acceptable to you. Uh, in early October last year, I'm speaking as William Allen now. My golden retriever Deacon and I were walking across Interlockan Boulevard toward Todd Park when a vehicle failed to see us. We were halfway across the road when we were struck. Deacon was thrown about 10 feet, tearing his nails as he tried to hold on, and he sprinted all the way home. I collided with the bumper, the driver's mirror, and my left foot was run over. My injuries were extensive. A fractured hip, internal bleeding, bruised organs, and a damaged foot. But the lasting injury was the trauma this incident inflicted on me and my dog. Deacon is now scared to walk on that side of the street and flinch for months at the sound of cars. All because the driver didn't expect someone to be crossing. What I want you to take away is that this was preventable. If there had been

a crosswalk, drivers would know to look for pedestrians, bikers, children, and people walking their dogs. Even as the police officer took my statement after the accident, we saw several people cross the road with their dogs just a few feet from where I had been hit. Our house faces Interlockan Boulevard and I witness people walking every day. Always a few, but many of all ages when the weather is as beautiful as it was on October 9th. The activity of the neighborhoods surrounding Interlockan are not bound by the confines of the boulevard. People cross back and forth for many reasons. Kids, teens, families, walkers, runners, and bikers. The list goes on. all cross interlockan Boulevard to reach the tennis courts, Todd Park and Highland area, the country club for treats at the holiday station or caribou or to visit friends. Adding something on my own if I may. I know that you are aware that Interlockan Boulevard, whatever its name, runs all the way from Highway 7 in almost straight as an arrow to the other end at Vernon or 50th Street West. It's over two miles. The growth of vehicles and population at both ends has been phenomenal. And I know that this council is aware of this and is trying to manage this for the safety of drivers by in putting in all of the work at on

Vernon, the new bridge, the large intersection, all of the roundabouts that you have put in. But for over 2 miles, there still remains no way to cross Interlockan Boulevard safely. There is a crosswalk at Ver Vervarin, which is almost at 50th Street, and then there's nothing until you reach the stoplight at Excelsior. There's no way city council can stop neighbors crossing Interlockan Boulevard, but it is possible to make it safer for them. Please vote in favor of the development of a crosswalk at Cooper Avenue. We are not asking for a change in the speed limit, a stop light or stop sign, but only a bit of paint and a few signs for a crosswalk to help both pedestrians and drivers avoid another needless and I believe inevitable injury or death. It's a small step to nudge nudge the future, but to someone it may turn out to be priceless. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Helen. Thanks for coming in. Anyone else? Any audience? Let's turn now to the virtual world. See if we have anything there. I do not have anyone online. Okay. Um well, let's uh let's then turn to the next portion of the agenda, part of community comment, but where the city manager responds to committee comments that were made at the prior meeting. Has been a while since we've had a meeting, but I think there were some comments made that you want to respond to.

Our last meeting was March 17th. Uh we had one uh uh question that evening and that question was around uh how the city recognizes and and implements uh lowering our flags when we have a governor's order. We have a protocol about how we do that. Uh Jennifer is our is our key person in that process. She's the one that gets that that order directly from the governor's office and then distributes it to the various uh facility managers and and folks in in the various facilities around our city where we have flag poles. Um we there was no no um intention of being disrespectful about not getting a flag lowered. I think in this case it was just a human error in terms of the communication. Uh sometimes it's a it's a mechanical error. The flag, as you as you may know, there's a chains and apparatus that that sometimes get frozen or literally frozen and we can't make them go up and down. I don't think that was the case here, but that has happened before. Um we are doing a a a check, a process check uh later this week on Thursday, I believe. We have a meeting with all of our uh flag um folks who take care of this and also the facilities managers where we talk about how we can make this better and and kind of reduce the human error piece of it. So we think that's important and we we want to do it right. That was it.

Okay. Thank you. That prompt any questions or comments from council members? All right. Uh next on the agenda is the um consent agenda. There are several items on the consent agenda. Is there anyone on the council that wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda? All right, hearing nothing. Is there a motion to adopt the items on the consent agenda in a single motion? So move. Second. Member Pierce moves. Member Jackson seconds the adoption of the items on the consent agenda and a single motion. Uh any further discussion? All those in favor of adopting the items on the consent agenda and the single motion say I. I.

I. Opposed. Carried. Those items 6.1 through 6.16 are all adopted uh and approved. So, thanks for that. And then uh we are moving on to special recognitions and presentations. And we've got some of our residents with us tonight for some of these uh matters. And the first one is something that Edina has done for many many years. We Mr. Near will remind me but I think we might have missed last year. Uh but we were years ago they started this days of remembrance. It the notion came out of Washington DC and I remember Adina was an early adopter through its human rights and relations commission uh of um recognizing that day and having an event usually on a Sunday here in city hall and did it for over a decade I think and and Mr. Nearoff is making sure that we continue this uh this work through his efforts as a volunteer in our city. Uh and um I'm going to read a proclamation about Days of Remembrance and I'm going to give it to Mr. Neofroof and then we're he we're going to have him talk a little bit about when the event is going to occur and some of the things that we can expect as part of that presentation. The proclamation for days of remembrance uh involves a a period of time April 13th through the 20th 2026. And the resolution proclamation reads as follows. Whereas the Holocaust was the state sponsored systematic persecution and annihilation of European jewelry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. And whereas an estimated 6 million Jewish people along with millions of Romani, disabled, LGBTQ plus and political dissident among other marginalized groups suffered grievously and were murdered under Nazi tyranny. And whereas the history of the Holocaust offers an opportunity to reflect on the

moral responsibilities of individuals, societies, and governments. And whereas in 1979, the United States Congress established days of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust to coincide with the dates of liberation by American troops of the Dhaka concentration camp. And whereas the days of remembrance have been set aside as a time for all to remember the victims of the Holocaust as well as to reflect on the need for respect of all people to strive to overcome intolerance and indifference through learning and remembrance. And whereas the community of Adana is dedicated to the principles of individual freedom and a just society. And whereas the Adana community honors the memory of the victims, survivors, descendants, rescuers, and liberators of the Holocaust victims. And whereas the people of the city of Adana remember the terrible events of the Holocaust, including the deaths of more than a million children, and remain vigilant against hatred, persecution, and tyranny. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Atlanta hereby proclaims the week of April 13th through the 20th, 2026, including the day of remembrance known as Yom Hosa Hasha Hosoa Hashoa as days of remembrance in the city of Idana and calls upon the people of Idana to join their neighbors in recognizing this week and are invited to the days of Holocaust Days of Remembrance uh event titled The Cello Still Sings, Courage and Conscience, one conversation at a time by author and speaker Janet Horvath to be held Tuesday, April 14th, 2026, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at United Fire Station number two. Uh, those in favor of adopting a proclamation say I. Is there a motion to that effect?

So move. Second. Member Jackson moves. Member Pierce the adoption of the proclamation involving uh days of remembrance and the week of April 13 through 2026 recognizing days of remembrance and the Holocaust. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the proclamation say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. The proclamation is adopted. I'm going to walk down and hand it to our resident NRO and then I'm going to have Mr. Nearov comment a little bit about in depth more in depth about what's happening uh that evening. Thank you very much, Mr. Be a photo involved here too if I don't.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Um I have actually quite little to add to what you said. I mean first I'd like to issue a few thanks. First of all to Mayor Havland and to the city of Edina because uh the city under his leadership has been a leader in recognizing days of remembrance. And it's actually um quite a good statement about how the city honors and remembers things like days of remembrance and other dates of significance to members of our community. It's it's a very um it's a very honorable thing that the city does. Uh second, I want to thank council member Jackson who uh found our speaker this year, Miss Horvath from the retired member of the Minnesota Orchestra. And she'll be speaking about the experiences of her parents who were professional musicians who are interned at the Bergen Bellson concentration camp and and her experiences as a second generation survivor. I think it's a very it's a wonderful program and I wish to thank m Miss member Jackson for bringing it to our attention. And then finally I wish to thank city staff member Thomas Brooks who I've been working with on this program. Thomas has been a a wonderful partner just thoughtful and persistent and help just very helpful on creating this program. So I think uh I do want to reiterate that the program will be next week next Tuesday evening at 6:30 at the new fire station number two. We hope we get some turnout and I I just again I thank you. Thank you for the proclamation and for the work of the city on this event.

Yeah, you're welcome and thanks thanks for reinvigorating it. I think it's really it's been an important part of the fabric of our town for well over a decade as we mentioned and it's something that we should be continuing I think year after year after year. Let's go down for a group photo. You

in the middle there Mr. N. All right, everybody come closer. Let's display your proclamation. Before we excuse me, before we read the proclamation. Um, I want to turn to manager Neil. We've got a new fellow that he wants to introduce that's working at the city of Edina. And I'll turn now to manager Neil.

Thank you, your honor. I want to introduce our new uh Edina city management fellow. His name is Assad Massud. Uh he just started with us uh last week and I wanted him to come and just introduce himself to you and tell a little bit about where he's from and how he got here. Yeah, good evening. Uh, nice to meet you all. Um, I was privileged enough to work with you a little bit earlier in the work session. Um, I started last week um, finding my way around the building, but uh, a little bit about me, I was a I was in the masters for public administration program at Hamlin until last spring. Um, I was working at St. Paul Academy as their auxiliary programs coordinator for the last three years before that. And uh I've been looking to get into public administration, really public service, uh since I started undergrad at the U of M doing political science, but I started that in 2015 and midway through uh my undergrad, the political landscape shifted a bit and I wanted to really make an impact. So getting that masters of public administration really put me in a position to be around great people like Scott and Ari. and uh I'm really excited to get started with you all. Thank you.

Yeah, we're pleased to have you here. When we were upstairs in the work session, I I wanted to take the time to find out. I thought, well, maybe it's a new tech person and I wasn't sure who it was and didn't think about the internship, but uh yeah, welcome. Thank you so much. Sure. Pleased to have you here. I appreciate it. Thank you.

All right. Um the next proclamation we have this evening is uh involving public safety telecommunicator week and Janelle Harris, I think, is with us this evening. Here's the proclamation and this would recognize uh 911 public safety telecommunicator week as April 12th through the 18th, 2026. Whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require police, fire or emergency medical services. And whereas an emergency occurs, the resp the prompt response of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is critical to the protection of life and the preservation of property. And whereas the safety of our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of the information obtained from residents who telephone or text the Adina communication center. And whereas public safety telecommunicators are the first and most critical contact our residents have with emergencies emergency services. And whereas public safety telecommunicators are the single vital link for our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them with information and ensuring their safety. And whereas public safety telecommunicators of the Edana Communications Center have contributed substantially to the apprehension of the criminals, suppression of fires, and treatment of patients. And whereas each public safety telecommunicator has exhibited compassion, understanding, and professionalism during the performance of their job in the past year. Now therefore, be it resolved that the city council of the city of Edina does hereby proclaim the week of April 12th through the 18th, 2026 as National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week in the city of Edina in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our residents and our city safe. Uh is there a motion to adopt that proclamation as read?

So moved. I second. Member Pierce moves. Member Agnu seconds the adoption of the uh proclamation involving telecommunicator week designating telecommunic telecommunicator week as April 12th through the 18th, 2026. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the proclamation as read say I. I. I. Opposed? Carried. And we've got Yeah. Here. thanks for being down here with us tonight and uh always look forward to your comments because uh you are such a critical component of how we how we keep people safe uh in our community and you you guys are always so calm, cool, and collected upstairs and uh so it's good to have you down here with us.

I appreciate that. I brought along Dispatcher Ingram with me. uh she's here to on behalf of the other dispatchers to hear the comments of the proclamation and some of the words that I have to say tonight. But I really do appreciate you um voting in this upcoming week as um National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week as recognized by the city of Edina. I'm honored to stand before you today as we recognize uh a group of professionals whose work is absolutely, as you said, critical to the safety and well-being of our community, our 911 dispatchers. Uh just a little background, dispatchers are the first point of contact in emergencies. They remain calm while handling multiple calls at once, coordinating police, fire, and medical responders while updating them with critical information. They must extract accurate information from panicked or distressed callers all while managing the stress of high call volumes and the emotional weight of hearing traumatic events that they cannot physically and intervene in. Decisions must be made in seconds often with incomplete or unclear information where hesitation can have serious consequences. They navigate complex and highly techn uh technological systems like our CAD, our radios, our telephone, and in various emergency databases. Their dedication is unmatched. They work irregular and very long hours um reporting to their shifts in all weather. We've had some wild weather this year, truly understanding the 247 nature of the profession. Um, in fact, we've even had recently dispatchers stay the night uh in town at the fire station to make sure they can make it in during this last snowstorm um for their early morning 6:00 a.m. shift. So, they've given up time at home with their families on multiple occasions to do that and be there for um the public that we serve. So today, uh, as I accept this proclamation recognizing National

Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, we not only honor the their incredible dedication, we acknowledge these challenges they face, the resilience they show, and the lives that they save. This week is a reminder to our community that these professionals are more than voices on a phone. They are lifelines, and an indispensable part of the public safety chain of survival. National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week is our opportunity to say what often goes unsaid. Thank you. Thank you for your patience, your time, your professionalism, and your empathy. Your work matters. Every call matters, every second matters. And next week, we celebrate you and your peers. Um, and the profound impact you have on our city every single day. So, thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. I think we're going to do a Yeah. Thank for that. I'm going to walk this down and I'm going to ask the council to come with me so we can do another photo with all of you. Next couple matters we have coming up on the agenda. to involve a proclamation on Earth Day. And then we're going to get an annual sustainability and climate action update from Marissa Bear, our sustainability manager. And that's always interesting information. Uh but first, let me turn to the proclamation involving Earth Day. And we've got uh several of our residents here that are keenly interested in uh in in Earth Day and uh everything environmental I think in Edina and have been involved and

engaged uh in protecting mother earth for decades. So here's the proclamation. Whereas Earth Day is commemorated annually on April 22nd to demonstrate support for environmental protection, advance sustainability initiatives, and raise awareness about climate change. And whereas Earth Day serves as a reminder of our responsibility to climate action, stewardship of our resources and our future generations to live live a livable world. Live live and leave a livable world. And whereas the city of Edina is committed to addressing climate change and has taken steps to reduce its carbon footprint, conserve natural resources, and foster a culture of environmental stewardship. And whereas in 2021, the city of Vina adopted a climate action plan outlining our community's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. And whereas Edina residents and businesses are actively supporting climate action by participating in the community climate action fund, diverting waste from landfills by participating in organics recycling and choosing to walk, bike, and bus as alternative ways to move through our community. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Vidana hereby proclaims April 22nd, 2026 as Earth Day in the city of Vidana and encourages all residents and businesses to acknowledge their role in protecting our environment and combating climate change. Is there a motion to adopt that proclamation?

So moved. Member Jackson moves member Pierce the adoption of the Earth Day proclamation designating April 22nd, 2026 as Earth Day in the city of Adana. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the proclamation say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. Proclamation's adopted. Uh, Director Bear, you have anything you want to say relative to the uh proclamation or we can come down and take a photo now or look for some reports? Okay, good. You got Look at that schedule of events. There you go.

Got it. Yeah. So, thank you, mayor, council members. Um, so as noted, April day commemorate or sorry, Earth Day on April 22nd commemorates um environmental protection. We're looking at advancing sustainability initiatives as well as raising awareness about climate change. What this proclamation does is not only highlights Earth Day, but also elev continues to elevate our commitment as a city and for our community to achieving our climate action plan goals to foster that environmental stewardship. Uh we are looking and supporting several events this month. Uh first, all month long, the city will be providing 100% discounted visits for the home energy squad program. Those are in-home visits for residents in the community to help them understand what is their home's energy use, what are opportunities for increasing efficiency, and then providing direct one-on-one support. Um, so they can sign up for that online. A lot of events as well. We have educational workshops around planning for clean water. One tomorrow or one, sorry, one tomorrow night at the South Metro Public Safety Training Facility as well as one next week online. We're hosting a clothing swap at the senior center on April 18th. There's an open house for the safe and equitable mobility action plan at the new fire station on the 22nd. And then towards the end of the month, there will be an Arbor Day tree planting at Creek Valley School Park on April 24th. And then on April 26th at Weber Park will be the Earth Day community festival. So we encourage residents to participate in these events, sign up for a home energy squad visit, and continue to celebrate Earth and and also support our climate action plan. And we have um several folks in the audience tonight, not only from our energy environment commission, but also um just members of the community that support um sustainability. We also like them to be part of the the photo that we'll do.

All right. And we're going to come down and take a photo, I think, with all the folks that are here. But first, let me have uh Mr. Thompson come up and tell a little about the Earth Day Festival if you feel comfortable doing that. Uh on Sunday, the 26th of April,

never give up an opportunity. Well, you can come to hear Mayor Hlin as one of our speakers. uh right back at you. Also, Larry Craft from St. Louis Park. Uh and we'll have a number of students and Julie Green, our state representative. But the big reason to come is because people are showing up for the climate. Uh we have Tom Tesman here with the Energy Commission. Alicia is on the Morningside Neighborhood Association steering team. And what I found in my decades of doing this work and ever since this what we've gone through these last few months, people need to come together. So our focus is really getting people out of their homes down to the park, enjoying the music, enjoying the food, listening to people, and learning from the 17 different organizations that are going to be having uh information there. So on behalf of all of us, thank you city for helping us. Thank you, Jennifer, for helping to blast out the information. We're hoping for good weather and a large crowd, but do come in here, Mr. H.

That'll be That would not be the reason to show up there. Um, let's have a photo with everybody here that's involved in

Thursday. Yeah, the council comes down. idea just a little bit maybe between There we go. Y. Thank you. Well, as I mentioned earlier, we're going to be able to hear our annual sustainability uh action climate a climate action plan update as well from Marissa Bear, our sustainability manager, and look forward to hearing the information you have to share with us. I'm sure the public will be uh very interested in it as well.

Great. All right. Thank you, mayor, council members. So, tonight, as as noted, I'll be giving the division update for the sustainability group here. Um it is a mighty division of two, myself, Marissa Bear, sustainability manager, and then Matthew Gav, our sustainability specialist. So tonight I'll walk through progress towards our climate action plan goals. Uh give update on funding related to our conservation sustainability fund as well as grant funding that we've secured and then highlight some of the implementation activities that happened last year. As a reminder of the climate action plan. So this is the guiding document for the sustainability division's work. We're working and achieving our city budget value of sustainability. Our climate vision is to help those who live and work in Edina imagine and achieve a future where the earth and all who live on it thrive. Our goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Where we're seeing emission reductions and measuring those are in the transportation and land use sector, buildings and energy sector, waste management, and then water and waste water sectors of the climate action plan. We have several other sectors related to green space, climate health, climate safety, um, and food systems that contribute towards climate resiliency as well as help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. As we think look at our progress towards goals. So based on our 2023 greenhouse gas inventory, we've achieved a 17% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This is on track with where we expect to be, but that emissions reduction is primarily due to grid decarbonization. So, Excel Energy is investing in carbon-f free generation that is contributing towards our electricity consumption and our emissions reduction. Later this year, we'll be completing our 2025 greenhouse gas inventory, uh, which will give us a better update on where we're at and are we maintaining that reduction in progress or has there been a change and help us understand how we should move forward as we look towards 2030. We do need to maintain our current reductions as well as reduce additional emissions approximately 197,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and most of those

reductions need to happen in the transportation and building sectors. So moving on to funding the conservation sustainability fund also known as the cast fund supports implementation of the climate action plan. In 2025, revenue was higher than 2024 with approximately 1.5 million in franchise fee and other revenue sources. The primary driver for that increase was an increase in franchise fee revenue than budgeted as well as elective pay tax credits that we received for EV purchases. Um and then as well as some interest payment for a delayed payment on our tax credits. Um for expenses, we expended about $1.3 million last year. Uh a lot of that money went towards capital investment. So we provided funding for efficiency improvements, two new solar systems, one here at city hall, one at fire station 2, buying new electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, uh supporting sustainability program and policy implementation, and then also providing some matching grant funding um requirements that we had to meet to secure grant funding. And moving on to grant funding, so uh we are very fortunate in the sustainability division to have a staff member, uh Matthew Gab, dedicated towards pursuing these grants. So to date last year, we secured $ 1.96 million in federal, state, and other funding. To date, the sustainability division has secured $4.5 million in funding, and that is made a significant improvement and significant impact on us being able to implement our climate action plan. To highlight some of the the funding secured last year, so for electric vehicles related to elective pay tax credits, we received $88,46. Um, we also received funding for a lot of capital investment, new shade structures at Fred Richards Park, the York Avenue pond lift station, um, and then the new, uh, the updated aquatic center boiler room. We're expanding the canopy there. There will be solar on that canopy, providing power to the site, and then also expanding our public property ashtree removal and replacement program.

So thinking about the future of funding um the new percent franchise fee model should maintain similar revenue to prior years but could be affected by weather utility rates just changes in consumption. Um we are assuming all new federal grant opportunities are going to be limited based on the current administration guidance around climate and sustainability initiatives. Uh we also saw last year elective pay was essentially eviscerated by HR1. EV credits ended last year in September. There will be no new credits for EV purchases made by the city or other organizations. The remaining solar and wind credits are incredibly hard to comply with and make it essentially difficult to achieve any receive any credit related to those projects. And geothermal was relatively left untouched. However, we do don't anticipate any new geothermal going in at city sites. So, we're just anticipating no new elective pay tax credits coming in after this year. And the remaining state grant funding is for natural resources. We're seeing a lot of funding for um storm water, trees, planting uh which is great. We love that work, but funding expired for energy related programs and we don't anticipate any new opportunities there unless of funding is reinstated. And so we did include a legislative priority just elevating the importance of refunding those expired programs. We as a community benefited with some of that funding and and would like to see that come back. So this slide highlights accomplishments. Um I'm not going to walk through all of it. big takeaway is a lot was accomplished last year. We're really excited at the work that's been done. But just to highlight a few things. Um the first thing I just want to note the community climate action fund which provides incentives for um efficiency projects, ebikes, renewable energy, other home electrification. We expanded that to include matching funds for sustainable deconstruction. So, as we look at tear down, residential redevelopment, other commercial demolition, rather than let having that uh that building demolished, that waste going straight to a landfill, incentivizing deconstruction where that material can be salvaged. And so, we're

really excited about being able to do that here in our community. We also commissioned the um the new solar here at city hall and at fire station. So, that's increasing um our ability to generate renewable energy on site, reduce utility bills, provide some resiliency to our buildings. We updated the climate action plan work plan as I presented uh late last year to really refocus our efforts between 2026 and 2030 and that's guiding staff's work plans as well as commission work plans and then we were able to showcase EDIA programs and policies at a regional conference as well as participate in some statewide case studies just to highlight the best practices that we have implemented here in Edina. So to dive a little bit deeper I'm going to highlight impacts by programs policies and capital investment first to just start with our programs. So the first item here, the community climate action fund, which is I noted provides matching funds for energy efficiency, electrification, renewable energy projects, provided funding to 60 projects with $109,000 of city funds dispersed. That city funding leveraged almost 900,000 of private investment in Edina, which we're really excited about to see of city funding. We were really able to leverage that, make further investment in our community. We also buy down energy audits for residents and businesses. In 2025, we saw 250 residential assessments and 11 business assessments that were supported by city funds. And then finally, the Electrify Everything Minnesota program outreach. That's an opportunity for us to provide education and resources to residents about home electrification. We hosted three online webinars. We hosted one inerson tableling event. And then we also helped create a new online incentive calculator that really tailors that information to folks based on their household income size, tax filing status, and zip code. You enter that information. What pops up on the screen is a list list of different savings programs across different projects that that person can take advantage of based on their inputs. And so we're really excited about that because it also now integrates the city vin climate action

fund as well. For capital investments at city hall, we have completed our city hall energy management program. Um, one highlight is the new solar PV is anticipated to generate about 200,000 kilwatt hours a year and that's approximately 20% of this building's electricity use that we're now generating on site. We also installed one new EV charger for police EV fleet at Fire Station 2. A lot of sustainability elements. That building is B3 certified, meaning it is a more sustainable building than otherwise would be built. Uh highlighted there we have 28 geothermal wells, 150 kilowatt solar system on the roof and then also three level two EV chargers that provide charging for fleet as well as for public access as well. And then we're also continuing with our fleet conversion for green fleet with four new electric vehicles and two new hybrid electric vehicles in our fleet for folks to drive and that replaced u traditional combustion engine vehicles. As we look at policy, our efficient buildings ordinance, so we that ordinance was updated last year uh to align with the state program. So that ordinance now only focuses on smaller buildings, 25,000 to 499,000 49,999 square feet buildings. Approximately 75 buildings are applied for this policy and 82% submitted their reports. That's about 5 to 7% lower than prior years. However, if we look at just that smaller building set, it's consistent with how they complied with previous year's policies. For the sustainable building policy, which is for projects that receive city funding or plan unit development or as a city project, they have to meet certain sustainability standards. And so we reviewed two city projects as well as two private projects in the community that are working towards sustainability certification like lead or B3 as well as installing EV chargers and um meeting the sustainable building 2030 energy standard. The carry out bag fee ordinance we now have two years of reporting done which

means we have about 18 months worth of data available to us. In 2025 60 businesses reported distributing 2.49 million carry out bags. Um there one thing I'll note here is 60 is much lower than what we would expect to receive in terms of uh expectation of who might have to report. This is self-reported data. There's no penalty for uh not reporting. But we have noticed that several large retailers like Target and Walgreens as well as several smaller retailers at the Southdale Mall, Galleria Mall, and 50th in France did not submit reporting. The other item I want to highlight that uh our division is really proud of is extreme heat report completed in Edina or sorry extreme heat rep completed that focuses on Edina. So what this report does is it evaluates extreme heat in our community and identifying those locations with higher than average temperatures than others. What we saw with the data is we were able to see vulnerable information on vulnerable populations, health impacts and economic impacts in our community. And then what this report also does is identify mitigation and adaptation strategies that are currently being implemented as well as the new opportunities we should be looking at as we think about mitigating and adapting to extreme heat. Focusing a little bit more on the data. So the highest daytime temperatures are in commercial and industrial areas with the lowest tree canopy and a lot of imperous surface. We also see really high temperatures in residential neighborhoods where a high number of re residential redevelopment projects have occurred and tree canopy has been reduced. Looking at the screen on the map as well in the report, those higher those hotter areas are represented with red shading, primarily concentrated in the southeast quadrant of the city. What the data also tells us is where the lowest dayide temperatures occur, which can be upwards of eight degrees cooler than the region, and those are in areas with high tree canopy or adjacent to parks and other green spaces. So, able to mitigate that extreme heat that's occurring. So looking ahead again, we have to

maintain those current reductions um as well as reduce an additional 196,865 metric tons of carbon dioxide. As noted, significant reductions will be needed in the transportation and building sectors. With that le updated 2026 2030 work plan, we're really able to leverage that as we move forward. We're looking towards the comprehensive plan, capital improvement plan, expanding on lessons learned, and then also working to secure additional funding as well as staffing to complete and initiate those projects. With that completed uh anticipated completed updated greenhouse gas inventory, which is going to have 2025 data, it will help us better understand where are we at. Are we continuing a reduction on path with where we thought we would be or are we higher than expected? then that can help us focus our efforts and understand where we need to to really put our staff time funding to continue those emissions reductions. And with that, I am happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Uh questions, comments from colleagues, council members. Council member Jackson. Yes. Thank you. This is as always a lot of information in a short amount of time and you you handled it beautifully. Um seeing Mr. Gab in the audience. Um, how how are we doing with the soy soy diesel conversion? Um, I know I've been watching oil prices go up and I'm thinking, hey, maybe we're saving some money here in Edina and I apologize I didn't get you this question ahead of time, but um, can you give us an update on the soy diesel project?

Yep. Yeah. So, the the project that council member Jackson's referencing is upfetting 10 snowplow dump trucks in the public works fleet to run on 100% biodiesel. uh the that project is we received a lot of federal and state funding to to implement this project. We have installed the tank. It's substantially complete. We have upfitted all the trucks and I believe it was this week that the um the technology provider Optimus Solutions is coming on site to turn the computer on, train our maintenance and mechanic staff to be able to run it. So we'll know here within the next few weeks uh making sure everything runs smoothly and then by the end of the year we'll understand the the removal of petroleum diesel to that biodeiesel as part of our uh reporting on fuel consumption.

So let me go I I think I missed it. When are the trucks going to be going out with the soil diesel in it? Will it be 2027? This week. Okay. So So all right. It's not just learning. It's actually going out. Correct. Yeah. The system will be turned on. Um, it's a computer system within the engine to turn when the engine starts, start on petroleum diesel, warm it up at a certain point, essentially flips a switch to start running on the B100 tank that's also been installed. So, it'll be this week that we'll be turning that computer system on and then training the mechanics and staff on using the vehicles.

Wonderful. That's super exciting. Can you um do you have a mechanism for gauging how much money we save by running the soy diesel instead of um petroleum base given the price of gasoline and diesel going up so high? Is that part of your metrics that you're going to be looking at? So we and I might ask um director of public works Chad Miller to chime in here. So we pre purchase fuel at an agreed contracted rate. So we're able to under we're able to look at that as we forecast out. Um it's not a weekly or daily or monthly purchase that we're making. So, it's a little less volatile than your average consumer. Um, but it will be something we'll be able to track forward both on um dollar savings, fuel savings, GHD savings um that we can include in future reporting.

Terrific. Thank you. And then we've got two commercial buildings um going online. We've got the Opus building here and the one down at 7250 France, the Craftsman.

If you have the opportunity to talk to either manager Newandorf or uh or Mr. fatigue and get contact information from them. I would love to hear how many of those people live in Edina will be working in Edina as opposed to commuting to another community. Um I I've heard that that there's a lot of local interest in in these buildings and if it's possible may may not be but I would love to see if that's going to help reduce the amount of transportation costs and uh our try to meet our transportation goals because it's really hard to measure um you know what those miles are. But if you anecdotally could get some stories, I think that'd be really interesting. Thank you. Thanks for your good work. Thank you, Council Member Agnu.

Thank you. Um, and I just want to echo, thank you so much for all the work you do in the community and for working with the commission as well and and just all of the organizing that you're doing. So, thank you first off. Um, I'm really excited to see the kind of continued data collection that we're having on the single-use bag uh ordinance because I know that that was something that was really important to us as we were thinking about this is not only like do we want to do it, but then how can we measure the impact that we're having. Um, so some just additional data points that I think would be good if you could maybe come back to us at a later meeting. Um, being able to understand having some of those initial data points that we had used when we were first reviewing the ordinance of like how many bags were being distributed by specific retailers as like a before data point to understand how has the ordinance potentially impacted or correlation causation? Not really sure, but just some more um storytelling on the impacts that we're seeing. And I know that we didn't have like extensive pre data, but just kind of the best that we can. And then I also think it would be helpful to to see to start to see like year-over-year as well. Um because I I think some of like the initial data maybe not as um directional, but as we start to layer on yearbyear, we might get more.

Got it. Understand it's really hard when we you said right like even some of our biggest retailers aren't providing us that information. Um, and maybe even like I'll offer maybe I don't know the best way to do this, but like if we had pre-data from some and those happen to be the institutions that aren't providing us like now follow on reporting um maybe there's an opportunity for us to help influence and just like ask really nicely um for them to participate in the reporting um because I think that would be even more meaningful to have the before and after where we can. I would appreciate any support in encouraging businesses to comply with reporting.

Council member Russer,

thank you for this report. Um the images that you show showing the extreme heat are really compelling and um I really do hope that they are visuals that accompany decisions that are being made for the comprehensive plan and the CIP. And I don't know if you were thinking along those lines or not, but I think it really should inform um some of the things that we the choices we make in how we allocate funds. And uh I know I've been trying to push for Lewis Park for a new wreck building there and just seeing this heat map and knowing that the current structure does not have an HVAC system and we can't have summer programming and it it is so hard to think about that and especially thinking about the lower income housing and so I hope your work guides our investments more so you you know tossed this out and I think we do need to really reflect on that. The other question I had was um the land behind fire station number two if there's any potential and I I hear the cutbacks to federal grants, but are is there still money for micro grids or perhaps another form of use that could lend itself to sustainability? Um a little solar garden, I don't know. Um

pretty limited from the federal administration. there's um as noted essentially eliminated um for any funding that's been available for sustainability as we think about either internal funding or other opportunities um especially in the the site you had noted on the outlaw behind fire station 2 um a lot of goals I think that as we think about that site um with micro grid that's a little bit more difficult it's often an interconnected system across a lot of private buildings um but what my goal and vision my goal for anything that would go there uh would be to ensure sure that there's a sustainability element integrated. If it's a building, is can it be net zero? Can it be all electric? Can it have on-site renewable energy generation? Um if it has to apply with our sustainable building policy, that stuff can be insured um versus just encouraged. So um in terms of is there funding available for a solar garden or for a micro grid, pretty limited. We'd have to likely invest our own capital to do that. But if it were to go to a private developer putting in a separate site, we could either require it or uh strongly encourage that activity.

Okay. Thank you. And I do want to underscore in my neighborhood um I'm not in the red the hot hot part, but I do walk along the Southdale area when it's August and when you are walking down those the sidewalk, it is just miserable and we need to figure out what we can do to really bump up our tree canopy and try to reverse this. So again, thank you. Your work really shows what we need to do. Member Pierce.

Uh thanks, Mr. Mayor. Uh so again, thank you for the uh presentation. Um member Agnu kind of is cheating on my sheet here. She's covered everything that I had. Uh no, we're good partners on this side. Uh it is going to be harder and harder to get wins in this space. And so you've kind of talked through a lot of the grants going away. Uh so it's it's not going to get any easier. And so I just wanted to underscore the importance of data as member Agnu described and we need to be able to compare against something

and I think you do have some comparative data. I'm sure you do. Uh and so it would be good moving forward that we can kind of see both so that we can tell not that our efforts are achieving the goals that we set because that's what your presentation shows, but we need to show that not only is that true, but that achieving those goals is having the right impact on the climate that we're we're expecting. And so we need to see all three of those data points. uh moving forward uh because as you said again it's it's going to be uh tougher and tougher uh especially in some of these cases to get um some of this work done. So thank you.

Thank you. For me, on the positive side uh of my observations, uh I joined member Risser and uh thinking about the um portion of your report that dealt with the Dina extreme heat and then uh the advisory communication that we received as well that would support mitigation strategies and adaptation solutions. I thought that was a well done document and uh added some real value to this whole extreme heat issue. And so I look forward to seeing what what you and your department and our city does in that regard. Um the bag fee thing continues to bother me. I think um we didn't have adequate data last year, but we had from your data we had 57 businesses report that they dispersed about 1.49 million bags in 2024. So the purpose of the whole ordinance was to try to discourage people from taking a bag from the store instead of bringing their own bag and they charged a nickel. And in 2024 the effect of that was that $73,610 was collected went to the merchants that dispersed the bags. In 2025 the bag dispersal went up by a million bags to 2.49 49 million if I'm reading the data right. So

you know I think a critical analysis needs to be done here. Is this this is even coming close to accomplishing and it was $125,000 uh and the uptick in the businesses was three. We went from 57 business businesses to 60 reporting and reporting that there was a million more bags dispersed to consumers that generated $125,000 in revenue. And so, um, I oppose the bag fee, uh, and I continue to have concerns about the bag fee and it what it's what it's actually accomplishing, uh, other than putting $125,000 worth of revenue into the into the into the hands of our merchants. And I don't know what our costs are internally in terms of what it costs to run that program, who we have employed to help run that program, but I' I'd like to know more. I think our residents deserve to know more too.

I can quickly answer the the last comment. So the policies managed by myself, sustainability manager. Uh so I am the as well as with support um from Matthew Gab sustainability specialist. So it's internally managed. We just don't have the capacity to enforce. We don't have capacity to go to businesses um checking to see if they're implementing the policy comply with reporting. Um and then we have used some conservation sustainability funds that funds the the outreach that was done. We sent letters, postcards, emails, uh connections with the chamber um as well as the 50th and France business association. But I'm and you know hearing the comments from member Agnu and and member Pierce as well definitely can come back with some more uh data and information. Yeah, I'm willing to give it one more year to see to member Agnu's point that we have a little bit more of a data stream

to look at and I think it's important but um yes member Jackson it was my understanding thank you um that the 2024 numbers were for 6 months and the 2025 numbers were for 12 months so that's why it's doubled. Yeah. All right. But if you look at if you take the 2284 numbers and double them, it is a reduction in the number of bags that were put out. There could be a seasonality aspect to it too too. So that's why I thought one more year of data was worthwhile.

Yeah. But it is, you know, six months data versus 12 months. So it didn't we didn't double in the amount of bags that we put out. We doubled the amount of time we counted the bags. Um, so that's it's a little u I want to make that clear that if you double the 2024 numbers, the the 2025 numbers is a reduction. So if you looked at a per month basis, it would you'd see the numbers go down. Yeah, thanks for that. Well, let's look at it another year and we'll see. Thank you. Um, okay. Thank you.

Thank you. But I think uh with respect to I think the whole council is interested in the heat the heat mapping and the strategies around uh extreme heat reduction strategies you know strategies around that would be very valuable. So, uh, all right. Good. We've got one other matter remaining on the agenda, and that is, uh, further conversation about, uh, potentially amending section 4-9-9, which will repeal and replace chapter 6, article 3, uh, regarding lawful gambling in in the city of Adana. It's a code citation. Uh, we've been talking about charitable gaming, uh, pull tabs in particular. We passed an ordinance on a first reading basis and uh I think maybe manager Neil and certainly our clerk Sher and Allison has gathered more information since the first reading and I know that with the input I've had from residents um I've caused uh it's caused me to shift some of my thinking here um especially on the ratio. So anyway, let me get to have the conversation and and hear what our clerk has learned from other communities and manager Neil get your observations and the current staff recommendation and then we can have a conversation about it. Great.

Thank you.

I think from a from a staff perspective uh first of all we just want to remind you where we where we've come from and where we are tonight and and uh our clerk Allison can do that for you in a second. I think from our perspective as a greater staff uh we really are are hoping that we can move forward with this proposal. We've had interest in it. We have researched it. I think we've answered uh as many questions as we can about it. We haven't made um really much of the moral piece of this. I think that is something that should be should be uh determined by the council but not by staff. Um, I think we we are really advocates for uh trying to develop a clean, easy system um when it comes to lawful gambling. A kind of system where the council really just opens the door and allows the organizations and the venues uh to kind of make relationships and and move forward like they would um like they would in a market situation. So, that's what we want to talk to you about tonight. Uh, we're also going to recommend the that the council approve the 3% um uh the the 3% tax, we'll call it, in order to support the the administrative uh cost associated with uh using the lawful gambling and also the 10% uh piece the city is allowed to uh use of the of the total revenues. Uh we can talk about this tonight or we could talk about it in the future. Uh but we would suggest earmarking that money and and keeping it in a special revenue fund so that we have uh separate financials for it and we can share with with council and uh with the nonprofits and with the community about how it is spent. Uh my recommendation would be that we retain that money for community events uh special community events that currently right now uh require us to uh

either go out and ask for money, ask for donations or ask for sponsorships. If we had a regular source of revenue, we could uh make th make those large community events which people like uh even more feasible in the city. So, I just wanted to give that little preamble and u and clerk Allison can can walk you through where we are today. Okay. Thank you, man. Neil, clerk Ellison, go ahead.

Mayor, members of the council, uh just a reminder that on February 4th, you did approve first reading of the ordinance and um there was consensus from the council to have a cap of six premise permits with one permit per location. Um, you may recall that I did ask for only three premise permits. That is totally uh not something that you really need to consider. You're totally free to do whatever you feel, however many permits that you believe would be um okay. Uh staff is absolutely fine with that. Um and in addition to what um city manager Neil has just stated um with the 3% gambling tax and the 10% um we're also asking that you approve the um net gambling proceed to be spent in the trade area would be 70%. And then um additionally the ordinance in if you approve the ordinance as it stands before you tonight, it would also eliminate the uh tax exempt gambling of limiting um those to two um exempt events annually. And that would move to five year or five um events annually, falling more in line with what is allowed by the state gambling board. And we would no longer do a background check on um those uh nonprofit agencies, treasures, and um presidents that would be pulling those permits because they would be pulling that permit directly with the state gambling board and the city would be simply signing off on those permits. And uh lastly, there would be an amendment to the liquor ordinance allowing lawful gambling. And with that, I can stand for any questions that you may have.

Questions for clerk Ellison from council members. Council member Agno.

Thank you. Um in the staff report we received a lot of data points which are really great on some other cities and uh what specific locations have seen both in terms of total gross receipts as well as the net profits after state tax for those entities. Um the numbers that I'm seeing in here now feel I would say drastically smaller as the potential opportunity for these nonprofits than I think I initially understood from some of the first presentations. So, can you maybe summarize because I know we didn't like update the staff report or the um presentation, which I think is okay, but can you just summarize for me kind of like what your interpretation of what some of these numbers mean for us to hypothesize what the nonprofit institutions within Edina might see in terms of net profits.

So, I I don't think I can do that. However, I was shocked to at the amount of money that um were raised and then at the end of the day what the nonprofit um organization had to then put towards their community events. Um but so I don't know what will happen in Adina. um it did seem a little bit topheavy in terms of expenses and I could be speaking out of turn with um what their expenses are to actually run an event um of this magnitude. Um so I was just as shocked as you are in terms of how much they're left with at the end of the day. So thank you. Yeah, because I I mean I think one of the the selling points was it feels like so much money, right? And it it felt like um I think maybe some of the the sentiment was it would be crazy not to do this.

Um but seeing these numbers I think really make me kind of re like double down on calling to question like is does this make it worth it and is this the best way that we can raise funds for these organizations? Um so I really appreciate some of the leg work that you put into um pulling all of this information. Um the other part and I think this is based off of um some of the engagement that we had had from community members. There was a public comment a couple of um meetings ago. Um can you just help clarify it? It sounds like um even like religious institutions within the city of Edina would also be eligible. speak a little bit more about the analysis that you conducted on um how many nonprofits would be avail uh eligible for this and how you're thinking about um who might actually then use it. So any nonprofit, anyone that is a 501c3 um would be eligible to apply for a premise permit. In terms of how they would use it, that is totally up to them. um they would need to have a uh relationship with a liquor licensed establishment. That is one requirement. And so um that would be those are the only ground rules in order for them to get a premise permit. And um the next thing that they would take into consideration is what type of gaming would they provide at these establishments? And again, that is totally up to them which games they would like to provide. What gaming does this ordinance as it's in front of us tonight allow?

Pull tabs uh both um paper and electronic um as well as uh paddle wheel um electronic and paper bingo uh tip boards and I believe those are the only ones in raffles. Okay. Okay. And so in the the staff report, we see that there are 391 nonprofits that are associated with EDINA.

Um, but I also see in here that were um hypothesizing maybe that uh the ones that would likely leverage these this opportunity to do lawful gambling would be education related organizations and then athletic associations and booster clubs. Can you tell me more about why we're making that assumption for this? Only because those are the ones who have shown interest so far, but that does not mean that it would be limited only to those um associations. Okay?

And I did speak with one church, for example, who did ask a couple questions regarding premise permits. They felt that they didn't have the manpower or um enough staffing to be able to do premise permits. um from what I've understand is that it is quite an undertaking for an organization to be able to apply for a premise permit and be able to carry out um what is required. And so um from what I've learned, it takes a certain size organization in order to apply for a premise permit and then actually make it work. So within the list of um organizations that are in Adina, I would imagine, I'm not speaking from experience, I would imagine that there are some nonprofits that are probably too small to be able to apply and actually implement a premise permit as required by state statute.

Okay. Did we do an analysis of the 391 to understand? Okay. And the reason that I ask is because I went and I looked at um some other locations just to kind of see, okay, what are the what's the nonprofit then that's working out of this establishment? Um and so if you go to Bloomington to I think it's Max Shack, it's the Aliveness Project is the one that's there. Um and so it just kind of made me curious to understand, you know, if what we're saying is as important for us that this is going to education related events, athletic associations, and booster clubs. Um, again, there's nothing in this ordinance as it's currently written that ensures that that is what is happening. Um, it really could be any nonprofit, right, that's in this 391 list that establishes these relationships with the premises. To be clear, the ordinance is not stating that it is only for these associations, the education or the athletic um associations that are raising funds. It's for any organization. And if you were to approve specifically that they are in Adina, then it would be for any organization that is in Adina that feels that they qualify to implement a premise permit, they would be able to apply for a premise permit. So maybe we did get off track in associating certain organizations as being the only ones that um would be able to get a premise permit, but that is not the case at all.

That's not what our ordinance proposal is and that's not what our staff recommendation is either.

Right. Is it if we wanted to would it be possible for us to is there like legal grounds for us to do that or is it not an option? I would have attorney Kendall Aine on that, but I believe that we could not limit it to certain organizations that it would be open to any any uh nonprofit um that would like to apply, including any that is not in the city of Adina if you do not put that restriction on. Yeah, I'm not aware of of cities that have put a restriction on the particular type of nonprofit that may apply as long as they meet state legal requirements, their 501c3. Um, they're generally allowed to apply.

Member RER, did you have some questions? Um, one comment, and this is based on communication with a resident about the 10% that we would be collecting. Do we have a ballpark figure of how much that might be? No. Okay. We don't.

Um, a concern I have is just um, you know, an entity trying to get this up and running, 10% could really be a hit and make it hard for them to succeed. The other thing is um on the flip side, it might not be that much money and then we spend time trying to deal with that and making sure that we're going by the book. And I I did look up the guide for cities on what you can spend um your 10% on. Uh it does and I did think of member egg new on this because one of the points is to a program for the education prevention or treatment of problem gambling and I thought that was kind of an interesting thing if we were to earmark it for that. So, I'm kind of rambling a little bit, but I guess my concerns at this particular point is is that 10% going to make it harder for this to succeed and also what is going to be the cost in terms of overseeing this and really ensuring that we're using it in a way that is in line with state statute. So, I just I guess it's not a question, but I put that out there for my colleagues. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Jackson. Yes. Thank you. So I will have some comments. Um the question is the way I read the ordinance as is currently written in our packet. We don't have the limitation on one um charity per site. Correct. That we took that out and we took out the limit on the number of organizations that could do this or licenses we issue. Correct. Correct. It was never in the ordinance to begin with. It was something that staff recommended.

Okay. And then um you know the well I have comments but those were my questions and just to clarify most of the work on qualification and everything is done by the state gambling board correct that we we will you know you'll be doing your part and everything but but the heavy lifting of qualifying organizations and everything is done through the state and we just kind of give the blessing once the state has established all this. That's correct. Right. Well, they the process is that they will make a copy of the application that they'll be submitting to the state to the city. I'll come back to the city the council for a resolution approving their application that will then be given to the state board before they will even consider um reviewing and approving the um organizations's um gambling application. Now what the city what you will be looking for when we are reviewing that application is do they have a lease agreement with a liquor establishment that is at least a year-long lease and is that um establishment has that establishment um been compliant with their liquor license. Those are actually the only two things that we're looking for. And if they meet those two, then you will approve the uh resolution um giving permission for the state to issue them a premise permit.

So we're basically saying they're stable and they're law abiding. Okay. And then they go and say, do you have the staff to do this? Do you have the accounting to do it? Do you have a process for keeping the funds safe? And that's all done by the state. But we're saying you're stable and you're law abiding. Yes. Correct. Good. Thank you. That's a good clarification. Council member Pierce.

Uh thanks Mr. Mayor. So just a question um just clarifying u so the question uh one of the questions member Agnu asked um that was geared towards ensuring where these funds um can be utilized. That's not what she said but that was how I was interpreting it. And you I thought you said a nonprofit that was not in Edina could also do pull tabs under this ordinance

provided you do not put in place that only Adina nonprofits would be able to do that. Yep. That's it. And so I I that doesn't that doesn't sit right with me, but but I don't know if I should have this kind of reaction to it. Um, but it feels like for me everything that we've talked about for months has been using these funds to benefit organizations in Edina. So that's what we're suggesting too.

Yeah. Yeah. There there is an option to require these organizations to spend the money that they raise within the city's trade area. So that's how you can ensure that the money stays in the Adina area, but it's just not in the ordinance. The So clarification, the 70% spending 70% of the money raised in Adina is in the ordinance. Okay. Who will get a premise permit is not stated in the ordinance.

Oh, I see what you were saying. Who can get a premise permit is not stated in the ordinance. So then if an organization who's not an inina applies and then gets the license and they earn dollars with pull tabs then they have to use those for organizations any spend 70% of their yes what they've raised in a dinina contribute 3% yes um and then 10% if you approve do that. Yeah.

Okay. So that I so logically I get what you're saying. I but that doesn't make sense that we would do that. I think they should be organizations that are any dina and those funds should be earmarked for organizations any dina as well and that's the reason why from the very beginning we did recommend that you consider that these nonprofits would be in a dinina yeah I would expect the venues to not enforce that but I But to to ensure that happens,

well, there would also be kind of some self- selection. Yeah. Because nonprofits that have no connection to Dina would not have a way to spend 70% of the money raised in Adina's trade area. So I think you would mostly I mean I don't know how it would play out exactly but likely you would get nonprofits that are somehow associated with the Dina groups because that's the only way they could realistically spend 70% of the money they raise in the Dinus trade area. Yeah, I would think the information that you're pointing out that you gathered from all these different neighboring communities that show the revenue streams, they that money stayed in those towns in which it was raised.

I would imagine because I do believe that all cities would have some expectation that um some of the money wouldn't be spent in their trade areas. Right. I'm so my question is just making sure that the ordinance covers both of those scenarios, but what you're saying is in practice um that it's unlikely that that would occur. So there's a lot there is kind of a lot of speculation, right? We don't know for sure how this will all play out.

And I I I do feel like they there have been so many questions and so many scenarios. Um but until we start, we really won't know how this will happen and then we can always come back and adjust the ordinance based on what we're seeing. I do know that one thing that I learned recently from the city clerk in Bloomington is that she's having a difficult time getting some of those um premise permit holders to submit their paperwork. So now that's going through my mind. How much time will we spend

getting the uh paperwork from the um premise permit holders? So setting the expectation right away um is going to be very important um with these organization when they apply for a premise permit to make sure that we don't have to chase them down in order to get the paperwork and to get those funds um that we're asking them to provide. I think member Jackson wanted to respond. I had a question to remember member Jackson. I was looking at the the language of the ordinance so far is really vague. So where where does that city trade area language

yeah it's in the definitions and then so that the trade area is defined and that I think it's vague it because it's means a geographic area comprises of the city of Edina in each city contiguous to the city and so 70% needs to be spent in either Edina Bloomington Minneapolis St. Louisis Park, Hopkins or Minnotonka or Eden Prairie and Richfield. Yeah. So there are eight communities where it could be spent. So I I actually So I've got two amendments that I'd like to propose. One is that we do limit this to EDIA based organizations um because that's very broad because it includes Minneapolis which is not a small city, right? And then secondly, um, member Risser touched on this is section 6.70, um, where the 10% goes to the city. I'm disturbed by this that we would have charities going to a lot of work. And my understanding is that this is a big deal to do this and then give 10% to another charity that hasn't done any work at all to to get the um, tab fees. And so, you know, one of my standards is, is it fair to all concerned? And if the charities are going to, everybody I've talked to about this says it's a big deal. I just talked to a guy from the Rotary Club in Excelsier today. They do this, but it's a lot of work. They have a whole committee that works on it. Um, so it's not a a small thing to do pull tabs and then to turn around and give 10% of the profits to someone who is deserving but hasn't worked for it. Um, the little red hen in me says cluck cluck. It's um uh so I I would like to remove that but I'd also like to limit it to um EDINA organizations because this is very broad.

So the one of one of one potential amendment would be limiting it to Adana based organizations. What was the other one? Eliminating to eliminate the 10%. Um so really it stays the the charity who does the work for the pull tabs gets to the proceeds of their work. Yeah, I agree with that. Um it just it doesn't seem fair to turn around and give it to another charitable organization unless it was an anti-gambling um you know uh mental health thing which is not what we're anticipating because we don't have those services. Yeah. Let's go to member before we entertain language on amendments.

Thank you. And yeah, I just wanted to respond to um to that part of the the 10%. Um there was a really good point made in the values assessment portion and I think member Risser quoted this as well but there was actually the recommendation to set aside that 10% into a fund that we could then determine how can it do problem gambling prevention mental health services or addiction recovery programs were the three that were actually recommended. Um and so my amendment would be a little bit different. I would say let's not use it for just general community events like the Fourth of July fireworks, but I would say let's take that 10% and put it into a fund. Um, and I'm not saying we need to determine tonight, but to say let's earmark it towards um things that will counteract the negative health impacts. Um, so specifically problem gambling prevention, mental health services, and addiction recovery programs would be my ask. Okay, did you have another follow on?

I do. I um see the logic of both keeping the 10% and dedicating it to um problem gambling. I kind of want to split the difference and say we could always come back, but these first few years when things are getting set up, I really do see the logic of member Jackson's points about um not taking that 10% and getting things up and running is very challenging. And um I did talk to somebody who used to run a pole tab um operation out of a bar that she managed, former council woman Linda Msika. Um, but it it's really really hard to do and uh I I really do think this is a point the beginning of it where we really need to ensure that we're not um undermining all of the work that is going into this. So I I too really join member um Jackson in saying we should not take the 10%. Thank you. Thanks for that. Go to manager Neil and then I'm going to go back to member Pierce.

I just want to advise you that if you don't uh establish this now, you the chances of establishing it in the future are very low. Uh because in the future then you would be taking money out of the pockets of people that have been expecting it and and uh generating it over the time period. So that's where I am in terms of creating the 10%. Um, we can if we if the council approves uh incorporating that into the ordinance, you can always make it smaller. You could always give it you could always reduce it to to some other percentage below 10%. But uh but if you don't take it now, you probably won't get to take it in the future or your your successors won't get to take it in the future.

Member Pierce. Uh thanks, Mr. Mayor. So, I had a um a different maybe slightly different take on the 10%. I agree with um what member Jackson recommended in not taking the 10%. Um but my reason behind that I think was far more pragmatic. If the intent of the ordinance was that the funds collected serve the needs of the nonprofit, it seemed odd to me that we would earmark a part of it and then the city would use it unless the city was using it for the same purpose. And so if if we're not doing it for the same purpose, then I would just leave it in the construct. um that the ordinance was originally intended for. So that's kind of how I thought about it. Um I I am also I also feel differently about the um gambling. And so it it also seems odd to me that we would even talk about setting up a fund for this. We don't do that for alcoholism. We don't do that for domestic violence. We don't do it for anything else. And so I I don't know why we would do it in this case. Um and then just by definition, I think pull tabs and meat raffles, all of those, the ordinance is is this is called legalized gambling. But these games are more like raffles than they are casino games, right?

They're not orchestrated mathematically to get you to buy more. And when you get behind, gamble more, right? They're they're not designed that way. They're finite games. There's finite number of tabs. Um when the event's over, it's over. Now, they can have multiple events. Sure. But once that it once it's over, it's over. Um, and I bet you everybody up here, I would dare say everybody in the room may have purchased a raffle at a school festival or even at the last um uh we had our community event to recognize police and firemen. um had a raffle there, right? And so I think it is more akin to that than it is um sports betting, casino gambling, any of that. Um, and so the other thing I would say is if if we don't if we don't do this, I don't think anybody has disagreed that the need of understanding what the need is in terms of quantifying how much of this is going to get after that need is a legitimate question. Um, but I but I also think this is just like any other um market opportunity. there's growth involved in it. We haven't done it before. Um like you can't compare to Weisetta or Hopkins or Bunnies that's been doing it for I don't know how many years. Um and so there is that element to it. Um that um once it gets going, the intent would be that it would uh

continue to grow and we'd be able to provide more more needs uh for the community. Um so I think the profit here is also additive was the other point I wanted to make. Um Edina give and go is going to continue to do what they do. Um and so this would be additive to any philanthropic um activity that we have in the community today. Um, and so that's kind of how I I view that piece.

Can I also add that to with the 10% um if it were to be used for mental health or gambling that is not currently a program that we have in place. So we we should also think about um putting a program like that in place, staffing it, how would that were that money be distributed to, how would the money be spent? Um whereas there are programs in place right now where that 10% could be spent without any additional staffing or any additional work um to use that money within the community. Thank you.

Thank you. I just want to react to one thing that you said um member Pierce in that I would completely agree with your assessment on regarding pull tabs and meat raffles and kind of the the overall nature of this if we were excluding the electronic pull tabs and electronic bingo cuz if you haven't gone like they give you an iPad you load up you know your money and it is it feels like you're at a casino it feels like you're playing a slot machine so I don't know if it's poss possible for us to add that restriction. But that might be something of only the paper, the paddle wheel, you know, those the things that aren't more akin to

a slot machine where we're not allowed to decide what gaming they have. That is laid out in state statute. For example, um an establishment could not only or a nonprofit, I should say, could not only do paper pull tabs or electronic because that's the cleaner um uh not having um the paper. They are required to have both electronic as well as paper pull tabs. I see records in here that show there are some sites that only or at least one the American Legion post 320 in Hopkins has just paper pull tabs and paddle wheel listed as the available games. That may have been just a typo on my part, but the state statute does require both E and paper. Okay.

Together. It it requires that you have to have them or they be available. Both right. You need to have both available. So if I'm So if I'm if I'm running a game, my establishment can't decide only to do pull tabs. Yes. Yes. You can't decide only to do pull tabs. You must have e- pull tabs as well as paper pull tabs together. Okay. I don't know. Not really. I don't I'm not a gambler either. I'm just reading the statute. I have no idea no idea what e pull tab is.

Yeah. Um but they're required to have both. Okay. Really interesting discussion. Um that could be for access accessibility reasons. It could be for accessibility reasons. If you're blind, you wouldn't be able to use the tablet to play. I'm not I'm not sure what those reasons are, but that it could be a reason.

Okay. So, when I look at the ordinance, um, you know, I think about it in the context of I've been around here so long. I was here when we first started issuing liquor licenses to places other than the dina country club and interlocking country club who always wondered why we didn't have any decent restaurants any dinina and they couldn't serve any alcohol. So um it doesn't matter whether it's a building permit or it's a liquor license. I just use that by way of example. Could be wine and beer spirits full liquor license. the cost of that license has to equate to the cost of administration of that particular area that we're regulating. And um I don't see that here. You know, I I see the 3% and and in a way I feel like the 3% is it's going to be fairly generous because it's in the language of the ordinance, it's based on gross receipts, not net net receipts. So if it's based on gross receipts, when I look at some of the numbers from these other organizations from other nearby communities, there's a huge difference in the net versus the gross. So I think we're going to get more than enough that we need for regulatory purposes off that 3% of the gross. And I come to the conclusion I'm going to join. You know, I thought man manager Neil had some good arguments, but I think there have been some other more effective arguments advanced as to why the 10% uh ought to be stricken from the ordinance and we ought to be able to um just just um regulate the industry that we're establishing here with that 3% per year uh on the gross receipts of a licensed organization doing that lawful gambling. I also would join member Jackson and and I think the rest of us as well would is that would

be our thinking that it should be in a database organization that should be clear in the ordinance. So eliminate the 10% eliminate or have it be in a databased organization and um so man let's see manager Neil any comment before I go to member Jackson to ask about her amendments? No. Okay. I know that you thought this was a pure council decision. Yep. So, uh, member Jackson, do you want to do you want to indicate what you'd like to amend or or pull out of the ordinance? So, it would be two motions. I think we amend the definition of the licensed organization means an organiza a DINA based organization licensed by the board.

What section is that in? That's in the definition section 6.63. um are you know in a organization with a mailing license in Nidina if you want to be more precise. Is there a a second to that uh motion to in the definition section make sure that that definition section characterizes that the applicant has to be in a DA based organization that's a 501c3. So we got a motion by member Jackson second by member Pierce. Further discussion on that potential amendment hearing none. Is there a motion to adopt that amendment as stated? All say I. I.

I. All those opposed to that amendment say nay. Meant to say I, but I didn't get unmuted fast enough, but I I'd like this specific amendment. All right. All right. That uh that amendment's adopted. Next amendment is to eliminate section 6.70 contribution of net pro profits to fund it administered by the city and renumber the other sections accordingly. Right. So this would be the elimination of the 10% fee. Second.

We got a motion by member Jackson, second by member Pierce to uh delete that section from the ordinance that deals with the 10% fee going to the city. Any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of that amendment eliminating the 10% of the city say I. I opposed. Nay. Motion carries. That is adopted and then let's talk about adopting the ordinance itself in its amended state. All right. Uh all those uh any further amendments attempted. Okay. All right. Uh all those in favor of adopting the ordinance in its amended form say I. Take a motion. What you We should probably move it. Well, yeah. Okay. Yeah, we should. Somebody should

Yeah, I'll make the motion to pass this this ordinance as amended. All right. Move that. Move the main ordinance in its amended state. Member Pierce seconds. We've got a motion and second on the adoption of the motion in its amended state. Uh any further discussion? All those in favor of adoption of the motion involving uh lawful gambling in the city of Vina in its amended form say I. I. I. Opposed. Nay. Motion carries. The um uh ordinance is adopted in its amended form. All right. For clarification, are you also granting second reading or would you like me to bring that back for second reading? I'd probably recommend bringing it back for second reading. And it could read second reading,

right? But since you're amending it, are you okay with granting second reading? Yeah, I think we we all I think we all came to the meeting thinking we were dealing with second reading. We would wait. Could add that to your motion. Yeah. So we would wait. Make that clear. I'll move that we wave any potential second reading needed. I'll second. All right. We got a motion and second on waiver of second reading if if necessary. Uh on the adoption of the motion in its amended form. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion of state to say I I opposed carried. Yeah, we got that. The uh the motion carries and to the extent that we have to wave second reading and consider it waved in the summary.

And now approval of the summary publication please. All right. Is there a motion to approve summary publication of the ordinance 202602 in its amended form? So moved. Second. I get a motion by member Jackson. Second by member Pierce to adopt or to approve the summary publication of ordinance 20262 in its amended form as previously passed. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. The publication is of ordinance 20262 and its amended form is approved. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Clerk Allison, for all that good work. That was really helpful to get that information from the other cities. I think between first reading and second reading, you did a tremendous amount of work to uh help get us better prepared for this conversation. And thanks to all my council members for really clearly vetting this uh issue and for the nonprofits that met with all of us. Uh we say thank you um for your input and your guidance. I think it was helpful between first and second reading to uh understand better the lay of the land in terms of what was going to be required to be involved in in uh in charitable gaming. And uh you were you were all great guides on this issue. So thanks. Here we go. Good luck.

All right, we've got some commission correspondence. We've we talked a little bit earlier about uh some advisory communications, particularly the one that supports the mitigation adaptation solutions listed uh any Diana's extreme heat report. Uh I don't know if man if you had anything you wanted to add there. None. Nothing dandy to you. And then we had that advisory communication on eBike regulation. And then we're on to manager comments. Manager Ne. I don't have any comments for tonight. Thank you. Um council comments. Member Risser, you want to lead us off and tell us all about going to DC and what

I do. I have a couple other announcements I want to make as well. Um, April is distracted driver awareness month and u I just want to underscore that Minnesota is supposed to be a hands-free state. I'm reading from an article from the Star Tribune but the law enacted in 2019 has not stopped drivers from holding devices and making calls, sending texts, watching videos, or engaging in social media behind the wheel. The behavior has become second nature for drivers, said Lisa Cones, traffic safety advocacy director for the Minnesota Safety Council. We've made it socially acceptable to break the law. This is the month to break that habit. As a result, distracted drivers are a top menace on the roads. Last year, 21 people died on Minnesota roads and crashes attributed to distracted driving and 159 others were seriously injured, according to the Department of Public Safety. So, um, I just really want people when you're behind the wheel, you're behind the wheel, you're driving, just drive. Um, the other announcement I wanted to make is that, um, this week we are kicking off the Minneapolis St. Paul Film Festival. Um, thank you, Director Benerro, for having this website up. And, um, at 50th of France, you can go watch movies. I have purchased. We're going to do two rounds of tickets um of films on Sunday. My husband and I are kind of doing a little mini marathon, if you will, for us. But um it really is a wonderful opportunity to see work um about all different places in the world. And I'm just very excited that the festival is here. And you you don't have to you can do it in a very sustainable way. um walk to 50th in France, bike. Anyway, it's a wonderful program. Uh but

I do want to thank the taxpayers of Edina um for supporting the trip to Washington DC and I want people to know that I used my time very wisely and it is wonderful to be in an environment where you can go down to breakfast and um sit across from somebody you've never met and say, "Hey, do you have TIFF in your community?" and um start your day off with a dialogue that way. And so learning about different types of programs was particularly helpful. The sessions I thought were very good. Um the highlight or the big moment that I really um do appreciate having is we were able to meet with Ilhan Omar in her uh meeting area space and sit at the table right next to her and I was able to articulate my concerns about the new ADA digital access rules and make the point that it's really challenging when I'm looking at the packet and I see so many items that are board portal and I know that residents can't just click on those and see those and they have to make a special request in order to get that information and sometimes it's material that is really critical for understanding um why a developer is making the case that the economic climate is changing and it would make sense for the city to invest in a parking ramp something like that and so um being able to be there and share my concerns and, you know, to have the conversation and to hear her really, you know, totally get it that, yeah, this is supposed to make things more available, but it's actually making things less available to more people. That was incredibly important to me. We did u have an opportunity to have breakfast um and hear from lawmakers and that was wonderful. So um and I do want to

mention I was so proud to be with my colleague um member Jackson who spoke up and you have these moments where the elected officials um Senator Clolobashar saying well are there any questions and I couldn't believe it because there's a room full of people and it was like silence and I thought no this cannot be and member Jackson got up and asked very good questions so that was really great. Um, I do think that some of the big takeaways I had though, although ADA digital access remained a real concern for me and still does, it was um, hearing the panel on artificial intelligence AI and what could be done with that. uh heard from a entity where their DMV is using it to set up kiosks so that when people show up and they want to get a passport or other documentation, they can go to the kiosk instead of waiting for an hour and a half to get to the counter and find out that they have missed a document. And I mean who among us has not done that, right? So uh being able to use AI in that way I thought thought was incredibly interesting. The other thing is uh I did talk to a city where one of the problems they were trying to solve was reducing the amount of cases where they were in violation of policy or code. And um one gentleman came up to me and he said, "You know, we downloaded everything into Google notebook and then we interface with it um as a very critical council person." And I thought that was really good because if you interface in a certain way, you're not going to get that uh sort of obsequious sort of response, but you could get something really useful. And actually, as I was sitting up here, because I saw members from Edina public schools shaking their heads strongly

when we were talking about the requirement to have paper as well as electronic games. And they were shaking their heads just paper. And I could read their lips. And so I typed into my computer, does Minnesota require charitable gambling organizations to have both paper and electronic games? And it says, no, it does not. Uh but okay the other thing that we need to be cautious about is they were saying and this was a little warning people are using AI in the workplace everywhere and that can bring serious consequences liabilities I don't totally understand those but it is something that we need to keep in mind and it's something that I think I need to learn more about and you know something we as a city probably want to explore and the the message was if you think the staff is not using AI, you are wrong. Um, and it is once you start using it, it it really is sort of an interesting tool. So, I do really appreciate having that opportunity, learned a lot, and I'm still following up on things. Um, one bill that sort of caught my attention. Um, Representative Stabber spoke to us as well as um, Clolobashar and Tina Smith, but we had, excuse me, she she was not, but um, he has a bill that would eliminate capital gains for home sales of $500,000 or less, which I thought was kind of an interesting thing and I don't know if that's going to move forward or not. So, that is my report and again, thank you taxpayers of Ida.

Yep. Thanks, Member Roser. Member Jackson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, thank you also for sending me and and for sending staff. Um, we really split up. So, we went through the agenda and what member Risser went to, I went to a different one. Um, the kickoff though is about America's 250th birthday and they said that the National League of Cities has resources for cities that want to celebrate and want ideas and things to do. And the question they ask is, "What is the most American thing about your city?" And I I can come up with a number of things. Um but I I wanted to pose that to other people. But I hopefully we will have both through the Fourth of July celebrations and other things a chance to celebrate our 250th um anniversary of being America. And that was a a great way to start the conversation. There was a lot of talk about um civility at in in several of the um plenary sessions. Um the breakout sessions. I went to one on public safety and technology and that ended up about having redundancy in your 911 system which I believe we have. We have the backup of Henipin County and um I was very proud of our city um in the advance that we've done with our 911 system and yay for the celebration this week of our dispatchers. I went to one on rail safety. Um there are two bills currently before Congress that are very rare for the rail reauthorization act. And so we talked um about making sure that we you know support that to have two staff members on every train and things because we're continue to be concerned about what's going to be coming through on the Dan patch line and we want to make sure that we're not having a dangerous situation in people's backyards. I went to a breakout session on the transportation bill which has bipartisan support. So I'm hoping that that will uh be passed. I went to a breakout session on um the recent immigration surges

around the country and we had a lawyer from California talking about their legislative response to that, a law professor from North Carolina talking about various legal remedies and the takeaway from that and then Chief O'Hara um talked about his experience and trying to walk the line between uh protesters and federal agents and and how difficult that was and how um they were thankful for the community work they had done prior to this to really help. But it you could hear a pin drop when he was speaking. The takeaway from especially from the law professor though is that it's all very complicated and it's going to the legal system is going to have to um uh work its way through a lot of the things that happened. Um but it was nice to be in a room of people thinking about the same things in the same uh odd place we found ourselves as local officials and and local police departments. Um, one quote I took which I just loved and this said to me a lot about my job as a city council member. Nothing stays the same. We either get it make it better. We either help it get better or we watch it gets get worse. And so we deal with a lot of change in Edina. And I want to say that again. Nothing stays the same. We either help it get better or we watch it get worse. And I think that really encapsulated what we do here on the city council. Um, in other news, thank you for for u mentioning the film festival. I'm excited about that. And then I got the opportunity to sit down with clerk Allison and talk about election security and I want voters in our city to know that she's working very very hard to ensure that this is going to be a safe process for everybody involved and um she's got a tremendous amount of detail that she's gone through. Uh, but it's important that voters know they will be safe coming here to city h hall to vote early to uh go to their polling places on election day. You only get to vote

once. You can't get to do both, but and then the process of of making sure that our votes once they're cast are also safe. And I was very proud to um to hear her process in that. And I want to thank you for the time to that you put into that. So those are my comments. Yeah. Good. Thanks to both of you for taking the time out of your lives to go to DC, too. It's a good experience and it helps us all helps us all. Helps us even though we didn't go, you make us better council members, too. Um, council member Pierce.

U, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so the one that I had has been covered twice already. So, just another plug for the film festival if you weren't able to attend last year. Um, so it it runs April 9th through the 19th. Um, and the tickets kind of go fast. So, if there's something that you're interested in, um, definitely go out there and and take a peek. Um, I just love that theater. So, as much as we can, uh, just making a plug for all of the businesses in Edina. Um, my wife and I have started to just explore even more. um just staying in the city, going to get sushi or going to the new Hi-Fi Bar or what have you. Um going to get ice cream from Adina Crearyy. Um and it's starting to get warm out at some point. It'll stay that way. U so just to encourage residents to uh support our business community. That's it.

Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Agnu.

Thank you. I think it was the last meetingish that we had a community comment um with pictures of him with his daughters and one of our commission neighbors um Taylor um with his daughters on his ebike and I saw them in the wild the other day and I like I was like almost honked. I was like wait no that's inappropriate. I shouldn't honk at them. Um they're just bite like but it would have been like a friendly honk anyway. Uh, it just it made me think about I'm really excited to get out on my bike and enjoy some of the amazing bike trails that we have around the community. Um, and and continue just exploring kind of all that we've invested in from a pedestrian focus over the last couple of years, which has been amazing. Um, I signed up for a triathlon with my daughter and so I'm also like trying to get her into the spirit of biking. We're still working on getting past the training wheels, but um I'm just I'm really excited about the summer of biking. So, that's all for me.

Great. Thanks. Um do you have that, Jennifer? Do you have that uh certificate copy? Thank you. Well, sometimes uh my morning office is over there at the Hilltop and I got uh button over there the other day by Bill Davies and showed me this service award and I asked if I could share it with the city council and share it with the residents of Edina. Uh I'm sure many of you have seen Bill over the years. He's been involved in scouting I think in Edina for over four decades. and he was a um uh airborne he was an airborne ranger but he's 101st airborne division served in Vietnam and from May of 68 to May of 69 uh in an administrative company got the bronze star for meritorious service and an army commenation uh medal for meritorious service and then has continued that sort of dedication uh in other ways in his life. When I see him over at the hilltop, uh you can count on him. He's there every morning. I'm not there every morning, but he goes to morning mass over at Our Lady of Grace and then he comes over and he's got a bunch of buddies that he meets with that are from Adina at St. Louis Park. And so when he I saw this award, I thought, "Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about him." And and uh he's he's got uh he's dealing with cancer right now. always carrying oxygen and uh getting treatment, doing the best he can under the circumstances. But the the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund put together this uh award and uh he's in the first class of people to get this award. There were, I think, just under 50 uh former combat veterans that received this service beyond service award for how they've lived their lives since they were in the

military way back in their teens and early 20s. And I just thought it was a nice opportunity to recognize Bill Davies and think not only of him as a as a veteran and having served our country in Vietnam, but also to think about him as a as a local resident who has done so much for the particularly scouting in our community and and Rotary up in St. Louis Park over the years as well. So, uh, congratulations to Bill Davies for that award. I asked him if this was the original. He said no, it was a copy. So, um, we don't have to worry about getting it back to him in good shape, but, uh, I'll nonetheless return it to him. Uh, only one other thing I wanted to cover. Uh, two of our colleagues, as they discussed, went to DC. Uh, I was there on the 9th and 10th of March. Uh, I got invited out by Yale. Yale has a mayor's college every year. They invited 50 mayors. They pay for everything. Flight, hotel, food. Uh, and it was two days. It's two days that you go out on Sunday. On uh March 9th was I think Monday. Uh we had 10-hour session on Monday. Uh but the first session was on immigration enforcement. And um so the the first thing it did was a guy named Jeff uh Sonnenfeld who's a administrative he's an assistant dean at Yale School of Management. He runs the thing. They do a they did a little survey electronic survey. Um, and they have a division of the mayors, you know, by by political persuasion. They might not all be designated party officials, but some are more conservative and some are more liberal. And it's about a 50/50 split. And the the first two questions were uh uh how do you do you strongly disagree or strongly agree uh with the enforcement policies of ICE? And I'm shortening up the question, but I think

90% of the mayors in the room strongly disagreed with the ICE enforcement policies around the country. Uh, and then the same question was asked with respect to the Trump administration oversight and it was about 85%. Uh and that led to a conversation then uh with Jay Johnson, JH Johnson who uh was a lawyer in in the defense department who was Obama's President Obama's first head of homeland security introducing Tom Hman and we had Tom Hman live for an hour and a half.

He was supposed to be there half an hour. He came and sat with the mayors for an hour and a half. Took a lot of notes. uh heard from mayors all over the country about experiences their residents had had um and left committed to writing a new policy on immigration enforcement. So, we'll see what happens with that. Uh and the rest of the the time was well spent, too. And then on Tuesday morning for it only was a half a day and they put us in with all these CEOs and they talked about more business related matters. And then we had I think for about a half an hour we had the president of Israel on uh remotely uh virtually from Jerusalem. Uh and then a lot of the business people had questions for him. So um yeah, pretty fascinating day and a half and and and thanks to Yale for including me on that and uh there were a couple of us from Minnesota that were there and so that uh it was fun to represent our nice to represent our state there. Uh so those are the two things I kind of wanted to cover and uh it's been a long time since we've been together. Feels like more it feels like a month but it is it is almost a month since uh our last meeting. It's good to see all of you and hear about what's been going on. Mr. Vinnie, if you stick around for a minute, I want to talk to you about this little map you drew here. Um so uh anything else for the good of the order? Okay. Is there a motion to adjurnn?

So moved. We got a motion by member Jackson, second by member Pierce to adjourn the meeting of the Dina City Council this Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 at 9:18 p.m. Any further discussion? All those in favor of German say I. I. I. Opposed. Carried. City Council of United stands adjourned.