City Council - Regular Meeting

Everybody ready? Here we go. Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Dina City Council meeting. It is Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 at 7.02 p.m. Director Benara, thank you for... advising the folks in the audience and at home as to some of the protocol involved here at the City Council meeting. As Director Benarat pointed out, we're doing these meetings in a hybrid sort of fashion. We've been doing this since the days of the pandemic and continue on. People can tune in remotely and participate in meetings When there are public hearings, they can do that remotely or they can call in if they have a concern that's not on the agenda. If it's a topic that's not on the agenda or scheduled for a future public hearing, they can address that concern with the council as well. There are the numbers for folks that might be watching in virtually who want to call in. Make sure you get those numbers down. We'll have them come back up when we get to the community comment portion of the agenda. But having provided that information, I'll now call the meeting to order and ask our clerk, Sharon Allison, to call the roll of the council.

Council Member Agnew. Here. Council Member Jackson. Here. Council Member Pierce.

Here.

Council Member Risser. Here. Mayor Hovland.

Here. Next is the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thanks for that, everyone. And we've got a meeting agenda that's been published for the benefit of the general public and the council and staff. And I'm wondering if anybody on the council or staff has any changes you want to make to the meeting agenda? Hearing nothing, is there a motion to approve the meeting agenda as published? So moved. Second. Council Member Jackson moves, and Council Member Pierce seconds the adoption of the City Council meeting agenda as published. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. I'm getting the hang of this roll call thing.

You are, you're doing a great job. Council Member Agnew? Aye. Council Member Pierce?

Aye.

Mayor Hovland?

Aye.

Council Member Jackson? Aye. Council Member Risser? Aye.

All right, the meeting agenda is approved. We have an agenda to work from this evening. And now we are at community comment. And we'll take comments from folks in the audience. Again, a reminder, if there's a matter on the agenda this evening or a matter that we know is scheduled for a future public hearing, those topics are off limits. Otherwise, we're interested in hearing your concerns and welcome you to the podium, either the center podium if you have an overhead that you want to project. Otherwise, I think the side... Podiums are a little bit better for projection and for presentation. You'll have three minutes. You'll get a yellow light when you have 30 seconds to go and we'll ask you to wrap up your comments when the red light comes on. And that way we're treating everybody the same in terms of their participation level. So feel free to come forward, folks, if you would desire to address the council on a matter of concern to you that's not on the agenda this evening or scheduled for a future public hearing, we welcome you to the Edina City Council.

David Frankel, I know you have an agenda pricing for the Barrymore Arena, but this has to do more with what's going on at the arena. The permafrost issue was well known before this whole project started. Prairie Dice Gardens in Minneapolis did a similar project 10, 15 years ago, and they have very well documented the problem and what they did to renovate their facility. It's pretty common in these older ice arenas to have this type of permafrost, as it's called. Very common, and a big issue you may face The rink used to have a sand floor, if it still doesn't, and the old refrigerant was glycol, which always leaked. So you could potentially have some hazardous materials in that frozen permafrost, and that material should be tested by the city to make sure it goes into the proper dump. Also, there's issues, the fact of getting heavy machinery in there now. I talked to construction people that are familiar with ice arenas. You may have to take down part of a wall to get a backhoe in there now. It's a huge issue. Beyond that, ice arenas are scheduled out already for the whole season. Edina is not going to be able to pick up any ice anywhere else within a close proximity. It not only affects teams, it affects tournaments the Edina Hockey Association has. And I'm not representing the Edina Hockey Association in any way. But one thing you're going to get major pushback on, Hedina, you know, hockey is king. End of the season, if a lot of team, youth teams don't make the state tournament, you're going to catch heck over it because they're going to blame you guys for that ice arena not having the ice time they have already scheduled they're not going to get. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, I guess. Telling us something we already knew. Thank you.

Can I sit down?

I already know how to sit. No, no, you can sit back down.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. The part of what we knew was that this, This East Arena had been tested for permafrost. I think if you're anybody reads the United Hockey Association release on this, it's about as understanding a group as you're gonna find and this city is scrambling hard to try to deal with this issue and try to find alternative ice all over the Metro to help accommodate this situation until we get back in full operation here. So anybody else? Here, welcome.

Yeah, come on up. Hi, my name is Derek. I was here at the last meeting to discuss the flock cameras and was directed to a brochure online. I've had a chance to look at the brochure and I still have a lot of concerns. Although, first off, I do want to say I was glad to read that at least the city has opted out of data sharing within the flock safety network. Glad to hear that the data on my daily commute is not part of a tech company's product. However, the stuff in the brochure that I was concerned about, it says that our police department keeps the license plate reads for only 30 days, but policy 770 on the city's website says that they can keep it for up to 60, and I presume that this was due to FLOC's standard data retention being for 30 days. However, they just changed it to seven days after public feedback and said they haven't changed active contracts, so I'm assuming that my data is still being stored for the last 30 days, but The fact that I'm not entirely sure is kind of I think why a lot of people are having problems trusting this technology that a private company can change the rules so fast that like a city government can't even update their website fast enough to keep track. I was, you know, I also think that 30 days of storage, even seven days of storage is quite a bit. Maybe 48 hours seems like a more reasonable timeframe to need to keep this information. If you haven't started an investigation by that time, you probably won't need to. That's the kind of time window that's useful for locating a missing kid, but doesn't allow you to grow a... you know, profile on someone's entire life. I also saw that the city attorney reviewed our flock contract and confirmed that the Edina Police Department owns the data and that flock cannot access or share the data without permission from the police department. I personally would like to have ownership over my own data. I'm glad at least the police department does instead of a private company. But I would ideally kind of like to have my own personal data as my own, especially if this company decides they would like to sell that off one day if they get a bad quarter or something. City Policy 770 governing the use of ALPRs is also a little uninspiring. Like that operators conducting an internal search, that you have to provide a case number for each search, but if there's no case number available, a written description must be provided. I would also recommend that the city uses the transparency portal that FLOC has available because other local cities are using that. However, a lot of the queries that they have in the transparency portal just say investigation as the reason. I think probably more information than that should be available on what the system is actually being used for. You know, a lot of other jurisdictions have also limited the number of officers able to access the system. That's something we could implement too. Another big implementation I think that should be made is that these, the cameras themselves should probably have some sort of reflective tape or some sort of safety mechanism on them so drivers can actually see them. They should probably, oh, I guess that's the end of my time.

All right, well, yes, I guess I'll be back next meeting. All right, very good. Thank you. Thanks for those suggestions. Anyone else? All right, anybody online? OK, let's go to our city manager who is going to respond to a public comments that were made at our last meeting. It's our practice to have responses to those comments on our website by the Friday following a Tuesday meeting, and then we also follow up with his remarks at the subsequent City Council meeting, and I think we can cover those now. I think there were a few comments you wanted to cover.

Thank you, Your Honor. We had three questions at our August 18th Council meeting, all three of which were having to do with Braemar Ice Arena. First question was, what is the long-range plan for Braemar Arena? The Braemar Park Master Plan was amended in 2022 to include improvements and a vision for Braemar Arena. That desired work was to add a fourth sheet of indoor ice, improve ADA accessibility, add a safer pedestrian drop-off area, and to replace outdated infrastructure within the buildings. Much of that work is underway with a renovation and expansion project funded by local sales and use taxes. Second question was, who benefits from ad sales at Braemar Ice Arena? The Edina Hockey Association sells and collects advertising revenue for the Dasher Boards and other ads in the South Rink. Advertising in the rest of the facility is sold and collected by the City of Edina, with the revenue reinvested into Braemar Arena operating budget benefiting all users of the facility. Final question was, who benefits from concession stand sales at Braemar Arena? Concession operations were transitioned to the Braemar Arena staff several years ago due to the complex nature of food service standards. Revenue from sales of concessions are applied toward the Braemar Arena operating budget, which is benefiting all users of the facility. That's what we had.

Thank you that prompt any comments or inquiries from council members. Alright, thanks for that manager Neil. We're next going to move to the consent agenda. I think member Risser you had an item that you wanted to remove from the consent agenda.

612612 OK, very good.

Is anyone else on the council wish to remove an item from the consent agenda? All right. With the exception of item 6.12, is there a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda in a single motion?

So moved.

Second. Member Jackson moves the approval of the items on the consent agenda in a single motion. Member Pierce seconds. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Councilmember Risser? Aye. Councilmember Jackson? Aye. Mayor Hovland?

Aye.

Councilmember Pierce? Aye. Councilmember Agnew? Aye.

All right. The items on the consent agenda with the exception of 6.12 are adopted. and approved. And then we'll turn to 6.12, which is a proposed resolution 2026-52, which is the proposed final plat for what's called the Vernon Heights Townhomes, 5516 Vernon Avenue. And I suspect, remember, Risser, it has to do with a prior vote that you took.

It does. I voted against this, and I just want to be consistent with my votes. My concerns remain, so thank you for removing that.

Yeah, thank you. Is there a motion to adopt Resolution 2026-52, which is the approval of the final plat for the Vernon Heights townhomes at 56 Vernon Avenue? So moved. Second member Pierce moves over Jackson seconds the adoption of the resolution 2026 52 Which would approve the final plat for the Vernon Heights townhomes at 55 16 Vernon Avenue, Edina any further discussion? Roll call please.

Mayor Hovland. All right councilmember Jackson. Hi Councilmember Risser nay councilmember Pierce. All right councilmember Agnew aye aye

6.12 embodied in resolution 2026-52 is approved. All right, we're gonna move on now to special recognitions and presentations portion of the agenda. this evening and we have a singular presentation. We're gonna talk a little bit about the 2025-26 equity strategic plan, the strategies that are being put in place or have been put in place and Thomas Brooks, our organizational development manager is here and it's good to see you. Haven't seen you for a while. Good to see you as well. And haven't seen you out and about either so it's good to have you in front of us and report on this matter.

All right. Yes, Mayor and Council, it is good to see you as well. As the Mayor just said, it's been a little over a year since I was last here to give you an update on the Equity Strategic Action Plan, or the ESAP, as we'll call it throughout this presentation. As we get into it, so this is going to be a pretty brief update for you all today. So I'm going to talk a little bit about our current goals and where we are today. I'm going to give you a little bit of a sneak peek into what we're looking at moving forward after 2026. But before we do that, I want to jump into just a little bit of background as to how we got here today, just to refresh your memory from the last presentation. So in 2016 to 2018, the city had a race and equity task force. Many of you all probably know more about that than I do. But the race and equity task force conducted their work over a two-year period and created a race and equity work plan. The race and equity work plan was something that the city worked on for a number of years and it created what was kind of a long list of tasks and projects that the city should look at, basically recommendations that would help move the organization forward, both internally and on the community facing side. The task force consisted of community members and was supported by key city staff members. The work plan, again, created a list of recommendations that, for the most part, a lot of that work was done even prior to me starting a couple of years ago. And one of the last remaining work plan items was to create a race and equity strategic plan, which was intended to be the next phase. So moving beyond a list of recommendations to something more strategic and focused was the goal. And so that's what we call today the Equity Strategic Action Plan or the ESAP. The ESAP is an iterative prioritization document capturing strategic priorities which move the organization closer to desired equitable and inclusive outcomes. I think it's important to acknowledge that our equity work is not limited to this plan. Equity is one of our five budget values in the city. It's something that we incorporate into our day-to-day work across the city internally. It's a part of our discussions and a part of our project work. And I know that I've also heard you all mention the budget values in your work as council members as well. But one of the things I do like about this is it does bring our focus to areas that are maybe unseen in the organization, but are foundational to how we make decisions in the organization that ultimately impact the community. The ESAP development process ran about six months, so from January to June of 2025. And what came of that was an 18-month implementation plan focused on two goals. There were two strategic priorities that came out of that that are intended to improve the organization and how we serve the public. And those goals were informed by the Diamond Inclusiveness Assessment, or the DIA, as we'll refer to it, which was completed, I wanna say, in February of 2025. The DIA was completed by both community and city staff as well as vendors, consultants, those outside of the organization. It was a 360-degree evaluation that examined the organization's strengths and weaknesses through an equity lens. For those that took the DIA, it was a little more complicated survey or assessment than what we're used to, like with the quality of life survey, because it really asked us to kind of look under the hood at how what we do internally that ultimately impacts the community and depending on a staff member's level in the organization or role in the organization or a community member's access to what we do internally, there was a lack of knowledge in some of those areas. But those are also opportunities for us to either better communicate or to focus on at some point in the future. There were 64 questions in the DIA across eight dimensions, and we'll talk about the eight dimensions in a bit. 350 survey responses. A slight majority of those survey responses were from employees, part-time and full-time. But we did get a good representation of community in the survey as well. So residents, volunteers, commissioners, council members all had an opportunity to participate. The strength that came out of that was natural environment. So natural environment really speaks to our environmental sustainability efforts and that appears to be one of the areas that both staff and community can more easily see and resonate with. So we did pretty strongly there. Our weakness that was identified in that survey or was built environment and so that speaks to Our city facilities and spaces being welcoming and inclusive and we'll talk more about that coming up and then the biggest opportunity identified by city staff and leadership was human capital or human development which speaks to kind of education skill building and human empowerment and These are the eight dimensions, and I will actually read these really quickly for accessibility purposes. But built environment speaks to buildings, infrastructure, transportation, utilities, and other human-made things, the things that we can see and feel in the city. Cultural capital is a set of shared and transferred skills, knowledge, values, behaviors, symbols, language, and history. Financial investment speaks to creating, raising, allocating, and investing money. Human capital is education, skill building, and human empowerment, as I just mentioned. Natural environment is living and nonliving things occurring naturally together. Political capital, our ability to influence standards, rules, regulations, and enforcement, even outside of Edina. Social capital, a set of cooperative relationships and networks among people generating mutual benefits, and then spiritual capital, beliefs and practices that motivate, stimulate, and encourage moral behavior. For the rest of this presentation, we will primarily focus on built environment, human capital, which we'll also call human development, and then social and political capital. These are the two current ESAP goals that we're working with. The first one is built environment focused. So this one is, and what you see there is one of the kind of questions or statements that we rated in the DIA. The organization spaces accommodate different cultural needs and includes easy to see and understand wayfinding signage throughout its spaces. So the goal there was to the original goal was to reflect at least three of Adina's cultures in our main entry reception in public areas that evolved over time through community and staff engagement to represent as much of Adina's culture as we can in our public spaces. So it's not just limited to three. And then the second one is a focus on human development or human capital, which this one is primarily focuses on data. So we wanted to find a way to routinely collect and use demographic data and community input to better understand and serve the community. And the goal here was simply to develop a process or a system for collecting and storing demographic data for use in decision making. So for built environment, again, we wanted to focus on mainly our main entry areas for this particular goal. The goal kind of has two focuses, and that is public spaces and wayfinding. So public spaces, primarily in public-facing buildings. So in this case, we focused primarily on City Hall and Public Works. But we're also, as we're looking at those current spaces, we're also looking toward the future as well. So how do we continue any concepts that we develop in this ESAP through employee spaces so that those also feel welcoming and inclusive? Or how do we develop a process or a system to update other city facilities in the future as well? So this project was primarily led by Chad Milner, our public works director, and a number of staff from across the city. This group worked to engage community and staff to unpack the DIA feedback to better understand the community and staff's desires related to cultural representation in our public spaces. So we even had staff members walk through our city's facilities to provide real-time feedback on maybe what was missing or what we could do better in those spaces. The focus here has been focusing on, in addition to culture, focusing on accessibility and functionality. So updating furniture has been a priority in this project. Partnering with the Dinah Public Schools to curate student artwork for display cases at City Hall and Public Works was also a goal that took some time. And I think one thing that's important to note is that We have primarily leveraged the resources available to us in already existing funds for this project, which has also played into how quickly we've been able to move some of this work forward as well. I am gonna walk through sort of these three photos, which are essentially concepts. So in the top left, you see sort of a layout of furniture. So again, the goal here was to focus on functionality and accessibility, as well as making sure that our lobby spaces feel welcoming and inclusive. So you see on the left of that first photo, when you walk through the city hall doors, To the right, there is kind of a living room area. So the goal would be to incorporate some furniture there, so sofas, chairs, and tables, so that people can have a space to work, whether that's working directly with staff when they come to visit us in the building, or whether that's waiting outside of a council meeting for their turn, just a space that feels a little more welcoming. In front of the council chambers, you see chairs at the top of that photo. One of the things that we found is that through feedback is that the benches that we have here in City Hall are very low. So if you or anyone with mobility issues or creaky knees, it can be really difficult to get out of the current benches. And so we want to replace those with chairs. And then as you move toward the hallway on this first level, there is additional seating and also workspace. So that's either for staff to get together and work on a project, or we also have visitors to City Hall all the time and a place where they can also meet and not have to stand while they do that work. Another thing that I'll point out, so again, right outside of the chambers, we have a small display case with student artwork. That artwork has been a hit, even though it is small. So we want to do more, and so I just want to point out that that is also a priority, whether that's in City Hall or in other city spaces, incorporating as much of that artwork as possible. On the right you see a concept of sort of a mural. So one of the things that we found as we were looking to incorporate more art and color into the lobby spaces is particularly here at City Hall with the way that the building was designed. We have round walls, we have a lot of glass windows. It makes it difficult to sort of add artwork in a traditional sense and so we wanted to take advantage of what we have, the resources that we have. And in this case, we have some large windows at the entrance. And so here is just a concept, but the goal would be to custom design art that is reflective of Dyna's natural environment that will complement the updates that are happening inside of the building as well. One of the things that I'll point out is there are different materials that can be used for this project. And one of the things that was important for staff is that we continue to allow that natural sunlight into the building. that is there is material available that would continue to allow that natural sunlight to come through that artwork as well. And then the bottom picture is the glass windows along Eden Avenue. The original goal was to make sure that we have some welcome signage somewhere in City Hall. And so again, taking advantage of the large windows that we have. This is again, just a concept, but adding some welcome signage in multiple languages, particularly for the traffic that drives by that side of the building. For human development, we, again, focus on data. When we started this project, data was sort of a free-for-all. We've always used data for decision-making, but data is gathered where you can find it, for the most part. And so we wanted to find a way where we could have a system or... limited systems that we could use to store data that would be accessible to staff across the city. So for this one, this was a learning experience. We identified Esri, which was a system or a software that we already had for GIS mapping in the city that you all are used to with planning and engineering projects. But that was identified as our centralized platform for demographic data. The timing just kind of worked out. So in November of last year, When we updated our contract with Esri, they changed their business model and it came with a bunch of additional functionality that we didn't have previously. And part of that met the needs of this particular goal. One of the things that it does, so any staff member can log into Esri and pretty easily pull infographics that are already made of the city that highlight just different demographic details, whether that's related to standard demographic data about the population, housing. We can even find business level data as well in that software. We have piloted different projects across the city, mainly with Parks and Recreation and Engineering because those tend to be the most community facing, especially Parks and Recreation. And so we've been piloting different projects to learn how the system works as staff, particularly for those of us that don't use the system on a day-to-day basis. Something that we found going through this process is that GIS, there's a reason why they have master's degrees for GIS software. And so it is not the easiest software to navigate. There is some functionality that we can get in and pull, again, some easy infographics or some easy information. But for the most part, if you want to do anything advanced, it is complicated and we do have to leverage our GIS staff. But also within this timeframe, we had some additional tools become available to us that also make analyzing data easier. And that is, of course, AI. And so we also have some AI solutions available to us as well that also make accessing data much easier. We can access data in mere seconds through AI tools, as well as analyze data much faster through AI tools as well. And so we've been piloting different projects and just getting to know that software as well. So some examples being just a standard demographic dashboard that Sort of compares Adina's demographics to Hennepin County and we can go beyond. And then also a dashboard that analyzes the results of the most recent quality of life survey. And we can also go beyond and analyze previous quality of survey results as well. So next steps, we want to continue focusing on our built environment work. So continuing with the furniture updates, so the concepts that you saw, and rotating Edina Public Schools artwork. We want to continue with the human development work through the end of this year. Data work is ongoing, but particularly as it relates to the ESAP, we want to finalize this goal and close it out. So part of that is educating and informing staff of ESRI and the tools available to us, as well as how we've been leveraging AI to sort of analyze data as well. So that's something that will be happening toward the end of this year. And then we are also working to finalize updated ESAP goals for 2027 to 2028. So again, looking at those 2025 DIA survey results, but also taking into account existing need. So for 2027 to 28, working with city leadership, we are going to be looking at continuing the focus on our built environment work. So again, continuing with those concepts that you saw, making sure that we close out at least the two city facilities that we're currently focused on, incorporating artwork, updating furniture, and any other accessibility or wayfinding needs. And then also looking at developing a policy and rubric that we can use for future public art projects within city facilities. So again, kind of standardizing that process going forward. The second priority that we are focusing on, and we haven't finalized the language for these goals yet, that is in process, but based on the social and political capital dimensions and how those were rated, Actually, they scored pretty low in the DIA. We want to sort of lean into those and respond to existing and ongoing need for relationship building in the Edina community. And so this one is very much related to what you all know is happening in our parks across the city. And so just the need for us to be more present in community, to develop relationships. And so the goal here would be to focus on developing our first cultural liaison role in the city that could help with that work. All right, so those are our two 2027 to 2028 goals, or at least where we're headed. So we, again, are still working on finalizing the specific SMART goals for each of those. But yeah, again, continuing to focus on that built environment work and then, again, providing some resources to our police and parks and recreation departments, as well as all city departments with the cultural liaison role. But I will pause here for any questions or feedback.

Yeah, thanks for that nice presentation. Questions or comments from Council Member Risser? Go ahead.

Thank you. I appreciate the work that you've done. And when you brought up built environment, and I know you need to focus, you can't be everywhere. And so I see the logic of focusing where you have been at the same time, You know we're looking at the capital improvement plan. This is what we're supposed to be doing this year. We haven't received it yet, which is what we did. We did have it back in 2024. We had it at this time, but it strikes me that it would be super helpful also to have input regarding the. status of park buildings. I know, actually, I just got images from Stockower Park, which really looks like it needs a lot of upkeep. Same with Lewis. It seems as if there could be an opportunity for bringing in some of the data that you are finding. You've got all these tools, but thinking about usage, thinking about demographics, thinking about income level, all of that. And I think in some cases, we've got a real diverse group of users on many different levels, age, income, everything. But we are facing... a situation where so many of our park facilities do need attention. I don't know. I hate to say, can you push further in terms of the scope of your work? Maybe not, but I just wanted to throw that out there because I think we could have value and it would be nice if there was some input into the capital improvement plan. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Jackson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your presentation and the in-depth work. I was really surprised that this is the department where AI is first popping up in front of us. That's kind of exciting. Thank you for doing that work and making that exploration. I'm looking forward to hearing how it works and YOU KNOW, JUST THE WHOLE PROCESS. SO THANK YOU. I HAVE SOMETHING SIMILAR TO WHAT MEMBER RISTER SAID, AND THAT IS WHEN WE WERE WORKING WITH THE, WHEN I WAS IN THE ENVIRONMENT COMMISSION, BEFORE WE HAD A GREEN BUILDING policy, we had just a checklist for developers to look at. So when they were coming in and building a new building, like here are a dozen things to consider when you're building. Do you think it would be possible for us as decision makers and then for different departments as they're planning, so when we get a new public space that we're going to be building, can we have a rubric, as members have said, or you said that, just kind of Are we thinking about XYZ PDQ while we go through this? I think it would be helpful for me as a decision maker and then also to just kind of crystallize those thoughts when we're building something new.

Yes, we are thinking along the same lines. So I think one of the things that I mentioned was developing a policy that would help standardize future public art projects, mainly focused on city facilities, but something that we can maybe also apply externally. But part of that would be incorporating some sort of a rubric that would be tied to that policy.

And I guess I'm getting at beyond art. So when you walk in, what's the lighting like? What's the seating like? Things like that so that we can kind of whoever's designing the building can kind of get a sense of what we're expecting from our public buildings. So it's art plus just the ambiance and the lived experience of being in that building.

Yeah. I, um, that's something that we can certainly take back to that built environment team.

Okay, great. Thank you. And then my other, um, kind of comment is, um, the city and the school district pay for a welcome center. And there's a person, the staff, um, who staffed at the community center down with a district. And I know you work with her, but, um, before we get into getting a cultural liaison, kind of see how much we can leverage that position first and then kind of see where, I hope you're working with her on this because I think that's, I don't want to see overlap. We want to make sure that everybody's got, you know, not rebuilding the, you know,

reinventing the wheel so yes thank you yeah we've been having some of those same conversations internally as well okay excellent thank you all right thanks thank you councilmember agnew thank you uh so remember jackson's comment about a rubric kind of made me um think of using that same framing When we think about kind of equity across the city, looking at where there are additional opportunities to have that framework, not just in the built environment, but in what is our rubric, what is our guide for how we should be tackling it? And I'm even thinking when we look at the rest of our agenda tonight, right, we have a potential park ordinance that we're reviewing again. And we have our values impact and I know that equity is one of them. And so I'm curious, like maybe you can even answer on the spot or it can be a future conversation. How does this ESAP stuff fit into that equity component that's already a part of our values? And is there a rubric or could that be also an area where we have a rubric that ties back into equity across the city?

I would say that's certainly something that we are working toward. The ESAP goals tend to be very specific. And so I would say that's just one thing to kind of keep in mind even with future ESAP priorities is that they are specific. But as we're developing those goals, we are always thinking about what we plan to do next or in the future. And so I appreciate those ideas and feedback. And we can certainly take those back and incorporate those into the work that we're already planning.

Okay, I feel like you're our futurist. We're counting on you to be pushing us forward in different areas and I think staff comes to you with ideas and now you've got council members thinking about it too and coming to you with ideas and I think that, I hope you'll embrace it and accept that role because it's not an easy role. I always think of that old, the great African-American writer James Baldwin talking about the future. He said, the future is like heaven, everyone exalted, but no one wants to go there right now. And so it's hard to think about the future and where you want to get to as a community. And you're doing a great job leading us in a direction that's really important to be thinking about as we work on all these. Harder issues in a way. I mean, I mean, not soft hard that way in terms of not harder to deal with, but just they're more matter of fact, I guess, and straightforward with land use and infrastructure and public safety, those kinds of things. You bring a whole new dimension to the work that we're all doing, and thank you for that.

I appreciate that. We're big on strength finders around here, and futuristic is my number one strength. So I'm always excited to talk about the future and how we can possibly get there. So I appreciate those comments. Thank you.

Yeah, good. Thanks. Thanks for being here tonight. All right. The next thing we have on the agenda this evening is resolution. We're finished with the... special presentations we're going to report some recommendations and the first item there is the resolution 2026-46 which accepts donations on behalf of the city of Edina and of course we have to do that by majority vote if someone wants to give us a donation is there a motion to adopt resolution 2026-46 so moved second We've got a motion by member Jackson, second by member Pierce to adopt resolution 2026-46, accepting donations on behalf of the city of Edina. Any further discussion? All right, roll call, please.

Council Member Agnew. Aye. Council Member Pierce. Aye. Mayor Hovland.

Aye.

Council Member Jackson. Aye. Council Member Risser. Aye.

We have a passage on Resolution 2026-46. We had a very generous donation this time from one of our residents, Angela Wicca, who donated $3,200 for a park bench, I'm sure a memorial park bench. So you'll find a space for that, I'm sure, Director Vedder. And then we'll move on to the next portion of the agenda. and that is the Blamar Ice Arena renovation and expansion project. We're looking at a guaranteed maximum price issue tonight, and we're looking forward to this presentation as well. We know you've had some challenges out there recently, and the hockey community has really, I think, risen up and said, we're going to help you on this, and... I've already got a formal letter I'm supposed to be sending to mayors in other towns on ice. So I'll do my part too and get those letters out hopefully tomorrow. We appreciate that, Mayor. So look forward to this presentation. I don't know if you're going to touch on those East Rink issues. I will. Okay. Absolutely. Very good.

Thank you mayor first in addition to the prior agenda item. Thank you to the residents that donated and typically once it hits your Level of approval. They've already coordinated with staff on picking out the location and what the wording is on the plaque So thank you to them this evening. We are asking you for approval on a guaranteed maximum price for the last phase of our Braemer arena renovation and expansion When we initially kind of started this, we kind of had to boil down what is our mission and what is the mission of that. This has been a long process of a lot of logistics planning and input. And that really is to improve and expand Braemar Arena for all users. as an athlete-first facility. And that doesn't mean an athlete-only facility. It means athletes first. And what we talk about that is, as you mentioned, Mayor, everything starts on the ice and below the ice. It's how do we get ice, and then we go from there, right? We go outside of that. Grab the microphone.

That's why I'm at the end, not the beginning.

So when we first started talking about Braemar Arena, we started talking about what were our project priorities. And we came up with our stakeholder priorities and then translated those into our core project principles. The first from our stakeholders were kind of pretty important to us on how we set the deck, and that's community and heritage. facility upgrades, ice availability, the spectator experience, food and beverage, and technology and accessibility. And that really translated into what then were our project principles. And that was improving the quality of ice, adding that fourth rink, and improving the experience with a focus on Braymarina as being that athlete-first facility. And I won't go into all of these, but it really kind of boiled down, and this may look familiar because I gave you a portion of this presentation in January when we came on concept design. So I won't spend a lot of time rehashing that, but just drawing your attention to that. And it really goes to those ice quality upgrades, facility expansion and experience improvement. It's better ice surfaces, reliable cooling systems, clearer, stronger ice, and a more comfortable environment for our spectators, athletes, and fans. We think about that expansion, that's that brand new indoor rink, something we can truly be proud of with those enhancements and converting the existing backyard rink into a fully enclosed space. Central hub for all those rinks, expanding our lobby if you've been there when games are letting out and we're turning over ice is that central hub. And then really building with the future in mind, and that's really around our sustainability components. And we also talked to you about that time, about the challenges of operating an ice arena, and while we won't be able to reach LEED Silver as part of the green building policy, we want to aim for LEED Certified. And then the experience improvement, so what visitors, athletes, and fans notice. So the easier and safer arrival, a fresh modern interior, and accessibility for all. We kind of talked about the total project budget, and that was how did we get there, right? And I'll draw your attention a little bit just briefly on that process. In 2019, we used the capital improvement information for that year, and the city council sent a resolution of support for a local option sales tax to the state legislature. And the first time they heard that was in 2020. And as you can imagine, they had different priorities than hearing a local option sales tax bill in 2020. The council reaffirmed that in 2021 and did it again in 2022, where we entered the tax bill and had a local option sales tax referendum to establish a half a percent at that time. And that also funded the Fred Richards Park Master Plan. At that same time, a group of residents, very passionate, came up with a vision of expansion for that. So while we amended the master plan, we had to wait again until November of 2023 to fund the remainder portion of that. So planning kind of began in November of 2024. And that equated to the first referendum was for 13.1 million and the second was for 32.1 for that total of 45.2. And we look at where that is dispersed around this kind of looks familiar from last time was around ice quality, ADA improvement, sustainability, the expanded rink and our user experience. So when we look at the proposed core concept, as this looks familiar, it is fully enclosing the backyard rink and expanding the lobby for circulation. That lobby will also see an expanded number of restrooms, both male and female, and those will all be ADA compliant. When we think about how you arrive, those south parking lot improvements, you know, dedicated safe drop off, fully accessible crosswalk, new drive aisles in the parking lot, landscaping and underground stormwater cisterns. The other piece of this is, which would we allow to start right now, is the new safety railings in the West Rink. So getting all the safety railings, accessible wheelchair platforms, getting rid of the old refrigeration system at the end of the project. I'll talk about phasing. Fully accessible restrooms for spectators, modernizing and refreshing our interior level spaces, and bleacher improvements, as well as consolidating the West and South refrigeration systems. This also talks about all of those user enhancements as well, modernizing all those interior existing lower level spaces, fully accessible restrooms, refreshing all those team rooms, locker rooms, all the equipment finishes, dehumidification units in the rink, and then upgraded floors and a new slab in the east rink, which I'll touch on. as well as expanded circulation, centralized restrooms, a connecting corridor, all of those phases of the expansion, in addition of fully enclosing that backyard rink to a new thrower rink. And again, these are only the renderings from January. We talked about anticipated phasing of those site renovations, and really about the timing and motion of this. Where we would start would be to start fully enclosing that north rink, working on the east side, constructing the additional refrigeration room. This is on the exterior side, not just on the interior. And then eventually moving on to the areas on the west side of the West Rink, eventually moving over that summer period next year in the South Rink parking lot. So you think of what you'll see on the exterior side of those renovations. The last one is just to kind of show you the level of planning and sequencing of what we'll be going through is really, again, about the refrigeration systems. That was a core piece of what the city council has already approved. And that's really about when we originally started this, if you remember, we talked about should we have four individual refrigeration plants? Should we have one centralized refrigeration plant? And taking the time to get that decision correct was important to us. So currently, the yellow is the west plant. That's its existing refrigeration system. As part of this, until we can get the new addition done, we'll be on a tent plant on the south rink, eventually switching over to a tent plant on the east rink. And in the end, the south and west rinks will work together on refrigeration. The north and the east rinks will work together. and eventually we'll have the ability to interconnect those if anything happens but just kind of talk about the sequence of what we have to do to all of those also as we kind of look to you know what have we already started you know there's been conversation around what is left to do and things of that nature but we really kind of broke this down into three phases and how we got into three phases was Post-concept, when we talked to you in January, we really looked at what was our risk on infrastructure? What was our risk on procurement timeline? Then what aspects needed additional design developments? That's how we prioritize things. We looked at that. That's why we started on the south ring floor. And then we'd move to the east rink floor. And then now we're talking about the rest of the enclosure, the drop off, the locker room renovations with this guaranteed maximum price tonight. So we talked specifically about the east rink floor. Now the replacement of that is due and we did have heaving on that rink and we're in the know on that. So what we had done is we had done soils tests in 2023 to try to isolate. Do we know exactly where it is? Do we know what's causing it? Is it a frost issue? Is it a compaction issue? Is there other issues going on in that arena floor? We did those tests in 2023. We did not find any groundwater. We did not find any hazardous material. We did not find any permafrost. That was in 2023. As we progress to this again, we retested. We shut down that east rink in May of last year for seven weeks, took the ice out so we could get at those pipes, and we tested again. We took eight soil borings in 2025. Same conditions. We did not find anything hazardous. We did not find any groundwater, and we did not find any permafrost. And as you know, it's not an exact science. You've had enough experience replacing utilities, especially underground utilities as your role as a council. So there are certain things that you just cannot see underneath the ground. And that's what we're experiencing now. So as the mayor mentioned, I'm completely grateful to not only the hockey community, but all the skating community that while I'm sure they are not happy with this, neither are we. But what I'm grateful is that they're very understanding and they want to work together with us. And I think that's how we move forward. But we try to do that due diligence of understanding what was driving that. We let the science lead us to that decision of what to do. And we are planning for now where do we go next on that. When we think about the challenges of this project as well, why it needed additional design development is we are actually trying to connect 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, 2010, and now 2020 era of construction and all the impacts of that and the uniqueness of how that impacts a building code. So when we think about things such as fire rating, interconnections, accessibility, in that new north rink we'll have an additional elevator That was not something that would have just occurred had it not been for this project. So again, increasing accessibility. And while we look at LEED certified and not LEED silver, we'll be solar ready on our roofs. We have a full replacement of all of those HVAC units. energy efficient models, as well as EV chargers. If you remember from that presentation, we're looking at that holistically in Braemar Park. So this arena, while it does have some EV chargers now, we'll have additional ones. So we did look at kind of those three phases, and that was those rink floor replacements, refrigeration equipment, and now this last piece, which is that guaranteed maximum price with Knutson Construction that we're asking for your approval on.

to view, and I think for everybody at home and in the audience tonight, really get a sense of the magnitude of this project. And questions for Director Vedder? Anyone? Yeah, we get, yeah, Member Risher, go ahead.

I appreciate the presentation and the All of the information. And as somebody who is not at all expert in hockey rinks and how they work, I have been talking to people, and one request that somebody asked was that, is there any way the public could see where those samples were taken, where those eight drilling sites were, and then find out where the frost is? And I think part of that is a desire to sort of make some kind of lemonade out of this lemony situation. And, you know, I keep hearing it's not an exact science, but I think if we could share as much as possible, you know, it could help another institution, you know, avoid what we ended up experiencing. And so just wondering if we could get a map of the extensive, you know, how extensive that permafrost is and where the drillings were done.

Yeah, we do have that information. We did take eight soil borings each time that we did this, so we can look at posting that. We currently have a Better Together eDinocyte for this project, and maybe that would be an appropriate point to post that. It does come back with clean fill, no groundwater, and no frost present.

Right, but then layering on top of that where the frost is. There is, yeah.

And that is an inexact science, so. Okay. Where the frost is, right, we've hit it, so when we think about that rink as an oval, frost does not go, like a lampshade, you know, from floor out. It doesn't radiate that way. It doesn't radiate perfectly down because those are conditioned spaces. What it does is it goes, I'm trying to use my hands. I shouldn't be talking with my hands, right? Is almost like a cone where it goes downward. But it doesn't go downward straight. It goes downward in a tail, right? So think inverted mountain, but not straight down.

Okay, like a bowl. Maybe. Okay. Like a V. Okay. Like an inverted cone. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

I'm not a soils engineer, as you can tell.

Right. Okay. No, that would be very helpful. I would appreciate that. And I have forgotten my other question. So anyway, thank you.

Just as a segue from that, it was soil engineers that took the boring samples over those period of years, excuse me, and provided that information to us based on their professional acumen.

That is correct, Mayor. We did use two very reputable firms that are recommended in this area. All of them have licensed soils engineers. And we did two different firms to kind of check and balance our work.

Other questions, comments?

Yeah, Member Peirce. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So first, I guess these are both comments. That information about how we did the bore, the test, that's public information. So yeah, we should share that. My coaching to you and the team is you don't have to apologize for making a mistake. and I don't know what happened, But things do happen. And so I think for me it's more important that we put processes in place so that moving forward we're better informed, we're better informed, and we're focused on this new plan. And so I just wouldn't want you to spend a ton of cycles on that analysis piece of what happened. I just don't want that to take away from the focus on moving forward. So that will be my suggestion. But it's public information, and we should share it. The second comment is I do appreciate the focus on ADA. If you've not attended a hockey, I'm not a hockey guy. Is it a match? A hockey game. it really is treacherous trying to get to your seat, depending on where you are. And you can watch individuals come in that are not as mobile, and it's challenging to navigate. And so I definitely appreciate that ADA compliance, not just compliance, but improving the customer experience is for part of the thinking upfront into some of the design. And so I personally appreciate that as well. So thanks for the presentation. Member Richer.

I remembered it was more of a comment. In trying to understand the situation better, I did go online and I did find a video that the city put out, Edina at Play, Braemar Arena Critical Infrastructure. It's nine minutes and 38 seconds long. And it goes into tremendous detail about just the really serious situation that the arena got to, including the manager at the time going up onto the roof and showing how they had tried to seal leaks and the sealant was peeling. And then he sort of... indicates by moving his body how the roof is actually squishy. And so there's so many things that really underscore the fact that really it was In such absolute dire condition, so I do think it's important for people to recognize that and it would make sense to, you know, find that Edina at play. Braemar Arena critical infrastructure from August 2022 is when it was released, so just want to get that out there. Thank you.

I would just say that to segue off that too, our residents understood that. And that's, I think we had that overwhelming support for the sales tax, the approval of imposing a half cent sales tax on ourselves. to be able to pay for these improvements, and that's something that's really important to the people in our community, as somebody mentioned earlier that spoke to us. So, let's get to the point here. You're asking for us to approve a motion to allow a purchase request for a construction contract change order, put a guaranteed maximum price for Braemar Ice Arena improvements, and do it with Knutson Construction Services and the Guaranteed maximum price would be $33,230,267. Is that correct? That is correct, Mayor. All right. I have one more question. Yes. Member Jackson.

Yes, thank you. So we get to the motion, and I wanted to remember, it's my understanding that Knutson Construction is one of the best leading experts on building ice arenas, and that's kind of what they do. Is that correct?

Correct. Mayor and Council Member Jackson, you are correct. So we did go through a request for qualifications and request for proposals for a number of firms, interviewed many of the best builders in town. Knutson does have that great expertise on ice arenas. The other thing that attracted to us as well in addition to that expertise was their past history working on occupied spaces. And that is critical as we continue to have Bremer Ice Arena open during construction and have to live through construction. That is a much different approach than saying we want to build something over here on a spare 20 acres of land and no one's going to be in it. But having occupancy during construction was also key to who we wanted to bring on and Knutson excels in both of those.

Terrific. Thank you very much.

Is there a motion to approve the staff request to uh... the purchase request from staff for construct for construction contract change order with knutson construction services inc and approved the guaranteed maximum price the g m p four ramer ice arena improvement project with condition construction services inc in the uh... some of thirty three million two hundred thirty thousand two hundred sixty seven dollars so moved second rejects the moves the motion is stated member pierce seconds further discussion roll call please.

Councilmember Risser? Aye. Councilmember Jackson? Aye. Mayor Hovland?

Aye.

Councilmember Pierce?

Aye.

Councilmember Agnew?

Aye. We have a passage of a motion. The purchase request is approved and the GMP is set with Knutson Construction Services in the amount of $33,230,267. Thank you, Director Vedder, for your continuing good work on this project.

And Mayor and Council, thank you very much for your trust in staff, your trust in this process, this project, and especially to the residents that voted to do it. And we look forward to delivering an excellent project for our users and community. Thank you.

All right, the next matter on this portion of the agenda, the reports and recommendations portion of the agenda, is proposed passage of Resolution 2026-50. which would involve a potential one-year site plan approval extension for 7235 France Avenue South, which is what we all know as the old Macy's Furniture Store site. And Kerry Teager, Community Development Director, has this matter. And we've got Ben Landhauser here from Enclave, too, if we need to have any questions answered. Director Teague, go ahead.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Members of Council, so City Code requires that after an approval of a project, you have two years to build it. The site plan is good for two years. The site plan for this project does expire on September 17th. This is due to the rising construction costs, difficulties with financing. Enclave didn't actually even close on the property until 2026, so there have been delays right from the start. The approved plans have not changed. Currently, they are working with our building department planning staff on building permits for the two easterly apartment buildings. There's a chance those could get issued before September 17th, but maybe not. So to be safe, they're requesting this one-year extension. So staff does recommend that you adopt the resolution this evening, and the findings are included in the resolution. And as mentioned, Ben Landhauser is here to answer any questions.

All right, thank you for that, Director Teague. Questions or comments from council members? Member Risser. Hi.

If I could get the image that I sent on the screen. Thank you, OK, and this was not included in our packet. It was referenced in the letter from the developer requesting the extension. But when I read this, I feel like. The situation we need to really understand what we're being asked to do, and I understand staff wants us to approve this, but. It sounds, if you look at item B, the petition shall state reasons showing why a building permit has not been obtained or why erection or alterations have not commenced and shall state the additional time requested to begin proposed work or improvement. And it also says the petition shall be presented to the council for hearing and decision in the same manner as then required for an original application and when i read that when you read this 362017 36 2016. All of it talks about the process for that site approval and that going through the Planning Commission for a public hearing and then coming to Council. So I am concerned about this and if perhaps our attorney could comment on why this is not the process that we're using, that would be great.

Well, I'll let Director Teague jump in if necessary, but I will say it's my understanding that staff has always interpreted that provision to mean a hearing before the council, not a complete repeat of the public hearing process beginning with the Planning Commission. They've already reviewed the application. There's nothing changed about the application. It's an extension. And this language, as I understand it, has been interpreted to mean a hearing before the council, meaning this hearing tonight that you're conducting.

Councilmember Jackson.

If I may have a follow-up question to that. So, and this is probably for Carrie, if there hadn't been rezoning, would they come to us for a site plan? When does a developer come to the council for a site plan review or approval?

We don't get too many code compliant just site plan reviews. Maybe in my 20 years we've had two. It's pretty rare. So there's usually a rezoning or there's variances tied to it. We've done quite a few PUDs over the year. This happens to be one. But it's just the site plan that expires after two years. The rezoning is still in place. and so the public hearing and uh... going through the planning commission everything is for the rezoning purposes and this is just a site plan uh... that doesn't have the same level of engagement that uh... every zoning would have is that correct correct if they were needed to change the site plan that was approved by the council then they would have to go through the process again but this is just an extension of the site plan that was already approved and they just get one a one-time one-year extension

If in the unicorn situation where we did originally just approve a site plan and not a zoning, we wouldn't have had the whole dog and pony show that we had to get to the zoning on this.

Site plans still require public hearing at the Planning Commission and City Council. It's just not a rezoning, but it is generally the same process. Okay, thank you.

Council Member Risser.

If we could go back to that image again. When I read all the material from the application, it appears as if the developer is saying it's going to go forward as it was originally submitted, including the 11-story condo building and all of that. And so that is in the material that is part of the packet. B continues and says the Council may grant an extension of up to one year upon finding that one there is a reasonable expectation that the proposed work or improvement will commence during the extension. We've had two articles in our local paper about how the plans are changing for that western section of this parcel and. also to the facts with which were the basis for approving the final development plans have not materially changed and I feel like with those 2 qualifiers you know losing the 11 story. Senior condo tower really diminishes this project. And that is what we have heard from the developer. We were supposed to get an update. Well, that's a different issue, but I'm having a real hard time syncing this up with all of the information that's in the packet, which seems to be disconnected from what we've been hearing recently from the developer. So that's my big concern right there.

So this extension would include the two westerly parcels. So they would still be able to build that as was approved if they don't do that over the next year, those site plans would expire and then they would have to go through the process again. And a new development developer could still come in and propose on those sites, but it would be an amendment to the PUD. So it's one where the council would have discretion to say yes or no.

Do we consider the proposed work to include the scraping of the old building and all the dirt work and site work that's been done out there? I would imagine we do. I mean, I would, personally, consider that the project, there's a reasonable expectation that the proposed work or improvement will commence during the extension. It's already commenced.

That is true. We just haven't issued a building permit for a new building, but you're correct.

Any other comments from council members?

Council member Pierce. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So currently the site plan expires September 17th. And so just help me understand what happens if it expires.

If it expires, the property has been platted. and there's been a PUD and basically the overall development plan is the zoning for that site. So while the site plans expire, they have to go through the process again. Even if they wanted to build the exact same project, they would still need to go through site plan approvals. If they make any changes, to those two westerly lots, it would be site plan approvals with an amendment to the PUD and that's where the discretion comes in for the city council. If they propose something that's not in the spirit of the original PUD, you have the ability to say no to that.

Because I just, I'm just irritated by the whole situation. And it kind of feels like we're between a rock and a hard place. So if we don't approve it, and the work has already started to Mayor's point, right? The site's been prepped, et cetera. And so we don't want another situation where there's a gravel pit there for the next year you know, five years or what have you. But I just don't have a lot of confidence that, honestly, we're going to get, we already know we're not going to get what we approved there, because they've already come forward and asked, right? There's a new partner developing part of that property. And so we already know it's a challenge. part of me, I don't want to approve this, but it just feels like we continue to give and give and give and give, and we're not getting, what we are getting is not what we approved to begin with. And so I just, I don't know what to do about that. If you approve it, it just doesn't feel like, The only thing we get as a city is we get another year where maybe a project will be completed. And that's just not a good feeling for me to give another year extension for this project. But the alternative is not better.

So what you would be, whether this helps or not, maybe this will help. IN APPROVING THIS, IT'S PRETTY CLEAR, YOU KNOW, WE'RE IN THE 30, 60% BUILDING PERMIT REVIEW. IT SEEMS LIKE THEY WILL BE GETTING A BUILDING PERMIT FOR THOSE FIRST TWO BUILDINGS. AND WITH THAT COMES THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EAST WEST PROMENADE AND THE NORTH SOUTH PROMENADE. SO REALLY THE DEVELOPMENT IS SET This approval still allows them to build on those two westerly parcels exactly what you approved, or they have to come back through the process again to amend the PUD, but the parcels will be set up, essentially graded for building pads. So you're getting half of the development plus the roads and green space.

It's helpful. Thank you. All right. Anything further from folks? Council Member Agnew.

Thank you. I feel like part of, and I just want to echo like Member Pierce's frustrations on where we're at because it doesn't feel like we have any good option in front of us is maybe the way I'm thinking about it. Because My concern with that potential future state of we get two of the parcels developed, but never land on what the other two look like, that means that site is locked in. And we now have half as much space to play with if it's gonna be a different development. And so that's the part that makes this really difficult is what we approved was the full vision, right? It was all four of these parcels together. And I don't want just two of the parcels and then the other two to be dramatically different or not developed. And so I think that's the hard part for me is, This is a, in one hand, this is a pretty large site that we have within Edina, but it's also pretty small in the grand scheme, right? Like there was just Macy's furniture that was there. And so if we've now cut that buildable lot in half and we're going back to the drawing board, the options in front of us are just limited. And so that's why, I don't know, I echo Member Pearson. I just, I don't love this. But I also don't love the alternative, which is we say no, and we're locking ourselves into starting from scratch. And then our options are more limited, right? Because of other factors that come into play from a financing perspective. So, I mean, I feel like my biggest takeaway is is the learning and the influence of how do we do some of these larger projects and maybe even like what kind of assurances can we get or how far down the path do we want to get before we allow the developer to go to the part of clearing the site. I know we just said that maybe we shouldn't spend so much time doing the postmortem on how we got to where we're at, but that to me is a really big takeaway because I feel like that's the element that tied our hands.

I think the postmortem is important in the sense that we've got two pieces of property on our prime commercial street There are great pieces of property for redevelopment, and we know that the market conditions are such that even one of the foremost real estate developers in the country, with Mortenson, owning most of that property in the 70s in France, hasn't been able to figure out what to do there. And so I think this is just a, it's kind of a reality check. You can have these great plans and have a vision that you embrace and you're comfortable with, And then market conditions can change things. And so for me, we've seen the site cleared. I think it's pretty much cleared now. I think the building permits are gonna fall into place for the buildings along the promenade. And yeah, we're going to make some decisions about those two parcels on the West Side along France Ave. And we know what we want there. We want something that's really vital and it shows a lot of life on the street in addition to some other things that are possibilities, but. For me, I'm I'm OK. I I realize it's it's kind of a balancing test, but. I feel like on this one we just need to keep going and then we need to hope with Mortensen that they come up with the, you know, the economic conditions changed. in the foreseeable future and we get that site redeveloped too. So I think we should stay the course and keep going given that one-year extension. We're going to have at least two buildings up and maybe have some other projects approved in the gap period and they'll get going on that as well. Council Member Jackson.

so listening to my colleagues the thing that word that pops into my head is risk and how is the risk allocated on this and i think we're all taking apart taking risks when we approved it that it would go forward it's been turned out to be a much more complicated and uh... drawn out process than we all anticipated we when we approved it but i think part of our discomfort is that you know it is quite a bit of risk that all of us have taken on and i think i'm with you mr mayor that i want to see this go forward because i don't want to take the risk of of complete failure on this i think we can get some apartments built and that INFRASTRUCTURE OF DIVIDING IT INTO FOUR PARTS AND GET THOSE INTERNAL STREETS AND PROMENADE WILL BE A BIG BENEFIT FOR OUR CITY. IT WILL HAVE AN IMAGE, THEN WE'LL SEE THAT, AND THEN WHAT WILL COME FORWARD IN THOSE OTHER TWO LOTS WILL COME FORWARD. I just think we're just had this discomfort because we're not accustomed to taking the risk on our side the way that the developer lives with on a day to day basis. So I'm comfortable moving forward, but I just want to acknowledge that that feeling is is a feeling of risk.

I thought you made a good point to and created two of what we're going to get, not just a couple of apartment building. We're going to get those public benefits built out so people can really see what the site is going to be. Anyway, Councilmember Risser.

Part of the risk is that this is a $80.1 million TIF district. And the part of the project that is being built is apartments. And when we do that, it's a 25-year TIF district. And so all of the incremental revenue from the development is not going to be flowing back to the county or to the general fund. And the whole project, when I looked at the numbers, but this calculates as well, the west side, we're talking 572 units. That's a lot of units for the rest of the Edina population to have to provide funding for additional police service fire service public works all of that so that is weighing on me as well and also when we had our august 13th hra meeting there was an agenda item to have an update on this tiff district we didn't actually do the update but we did get information in the packet and you look at the amount of money because this is a TIF district estimated $7,712,660 going to administrative costs over 25 years. That's 9%. of the 80.1 million, 39,539,652 going to the cumulative financing. And I think one of the things we really need to wrestle with is we keep Generating these TIF districts, we've got the U.S. Bank site. We did in 2024 get approval, special legislation from the legislature to extend that, but we haven't acted on that. That's a $22 million TIF district. This is an $80 million TIF district. We've got a $7.5 million one across the street, which is actually moving forward, but it also received funding. 4.86 in additional unspent TIF, so that we have $114 million of TIF financing on this two-block area of France. And I think we need to understand, or we need to try to understand, why isn't this working? And I think part of it is the real push to divide larger lots into four sections. And I think when you look at the U.S. Bank site, one of the corners that's supposed to have the tall apartment tower. What is it? It's the northeast corner. When you look at it and you calculate the number of units it's supposed to have, you have to bring in space that is part of the road. We're using a lot. There's a lot going into this, and there's layers and layers. It's unclear who's paying for the new roads that's part of the zoning. There's so much there, but we're not seeing a huge amount of success we are seeing a huge amount of uh... public investment so just going back i'm sorry there's so many things here and i just kinda keep trying to bring it together but it's complicated however i do really believe I can't have a reasonable expectation that the proposed work as included in this packet will commence. I don't think we're gonna get what was promised on the west side and I did not vote for this in the beginning. So to be consistent with this, I think I have a hard time. I can't support this. Thank you.

I'm gonna go back to Director Teague on this TIF issue that you've raised, but I'm gonna turn to Member Agnew who has a few comments as well.

I also want to ask about TIFF, so it's perfect timing. If we didn't approve this extension, can you describe for me the TIFF eligibility of this site for future projects?

Not being the TIFF expert, unfortunately, Mr. Neuendorf is not here with us, so... I'm not sure. I would guess to do something, we could dissolve this district and create a new one, but I can't speak with confidence on exactly how that would work.

So my understanding, and maybe I'll look to my colleagues to help correct or maybe off their own understanding, is that the reason that this site was TIF eligible is because the Macy's Furniture site was a blighted building. That's correct. And so with the demolition of that and the fact that it will be just an empty lot, my understanding is that it wouldn't be TIF eligible. But again, part of the gray area, and maybe this is where we need the legal expertise, is I don't know what the capabilities are to roll the TIF district if we got a new proposal that fit kind of the same framework, if we're still able to use that, or if this project doesn't move forward, if that dissolves the TIF eligibility and therefore any future project is not eligible.

and you know you have a car yeah that's and we do need legal to give us some advice on that particular issue because we have faced that before we face it over at uh... uh... on the other side of the old public worksite was something similar to that so but uh... but using that as the development that is the reason you you've indicated you know the reason why and that that is the reason why that we were able to do that on that site the fact that you may have a

say we'll call it an $80 million TIF district, it doesn't mean that you would exhaust all of that capacity. Because one of the things we were thinking about was a $30 million underpass that was going to be financed through TIF. So if the district only required a fraction of that to do all the public amenities that we want, That would be the extent of the TIF district that would be there. And all these public amenities that you're talking about would be funded through TIF, built by the builder, and then reimbursed. And so we're still going to get what we want out of it, what we require in order to be able to use TIF. It's just that we may not exhaust that capacity, that TIF district, and I thought we will, and it'll be far smaller than we anticipate. But if we don't keep this going, we won't have any ability to get a new TIF district there because, and get the things that we want out of the development, because it will be TIF ineligible.

That's what I want clarification on. I feel like I need that information before I feel comfortable voting on this personally, because if a yes vote, I mean, I understand what a yes vote would mean, but if a no vote means all of the plans that we had for this site from a TIF perspective is out the window, I want to know that before my decision.

So the site plan does expire on the 17th and you do have a meeting on the 15th. So it would be possible to extend it to your next meeting.

I think that's the best we can do tonight.

Well, let me ask, Council Member Agnew, assuming that you could create a new TIF district, how does that affect your thinking?

Right now, I'm leaning towards voting no on this proposal to extension.

Yeah, would you come up here, please, Mr. Landhauser? I want to ask you a question. What do you have invested to date over there? Purchase and then the work you've done.

Acquisition and then we're doing basically the horizontal infrastructure that'll support all four building sites is what we have going on right now. As Mr. Teague alluded to, we're going through the building permit review process that's required by the TIF district. So we do have quite a bit tied up in this right now. The one thing maybe that adds some additional clarity for the various council members That are trying to understand the difference between kind of the request tonight and where TIFF is We have two different types of agreements with the city Ones the development contract that's tied to the PUD approvals That has basically a requirement for Enclave to pull one Building permit on any one of the four buildings to keep that site plan Current what we're asking for tonight is basically an extension to that time frame or that deadline to have that building permit pulled we have enough information as I alluded to in the memo that I provided with the request we could pull a footing foundation permit on the Northeast building tomorrow. We're far enough along with the building permit. team of the city to do that. What we're trying to do is time out with our debt and equity. We've started our internal closing calls. So we're trying to put all the pieces together. So we have two buildings on one site or one lot. on the east side of the projects or trying to time out just so that everything is concurrence or not piecemealing our applications in process with the city that we'd like to submit single building permit that has both buildings included instead of just checking the box to get ahead of this deadline that's really what our quest is here separate apart from the deadline of the development contract and the redevelopment agreements and there are three of them one for each of the three lots in the project we have different deadlines and time frames to have started construction on each of those three lots so those are somewhat different time periods or durations that were amended and allow us to still perform on all three lots current with the current development plan The development contract, this deadline to pull a building permit was one of the pieces that was not touched as Enclave came forward last year asking for an extension to the redevelopment contract, the TIF agreement contract deadlines. Those have all shifted. We're well in advance even now of still being able to meet all the obligations of the TIF contract. This is simply trying to be frankly straightforward with our development partner in the city of trying to say here's where we are in the process of going towards building permit on the east project, the east lot project. So I guess I would hope that that helps give you a little comfort that we are like right at the starting point that we've intended and endeavored to. We're just off by a couple months, as I noted in the memo, of being able to pull the full permit for both buildings at the same time on the east lot.

One of the things that I've learned over the years is that we're in the development business with the developer, the city and the developer together. And. to me that to fish is interesting it's going to be resolved but it's not critical to the issue i think it's a point you're getting a you don't think it's critical of the issue we're facing tonight i think that's what director t thinks too i don't want us to get a reputation of pulling the rug out from somebody and and i don't want to see a member agnew said seeing that site sit empty at the old Macy's furniture store site because of the condition of the economy, just like we're seeing down at 70th in France for the next few years. So to me, on balance, if you look at it on balance, I think the risks are greater in denying than proving. I'd rather keep forging forward with you going and getting those apartments built and getting the site built out with the public amenities that we wanted, that we required, and not put those public amenities at risk. by finding out later on, if we deny it, that we can't create a new TIF district there. And now we just see a couple of apartment buildings or something else come up along the street that we don't have as much influence and control over. I'd be prepared to vote on it tonight, but I think if we don't have. Majority opinion on it, then I'd be willing to defer it until the 15th or you know the table until the 15th. But I'm not sure that if issue is the key issue here. No other thoughts.

I agree with your assessment. I think we should delay into the 15. That's not what your assessment was, but that's what I think we should do. When I think about this, it's such a huge investment. I also don't like the fact that You're bringing this forward. And so on the 15th, I still don't have a lot of confidence that this project is going to get done. So I think the developer should be standing up here and giving us the confidence that we can take this risk and move forward as opposed to the way we're doing this now. It's, it's, It's almost like it's a formality, and it's not. It really isn't. And so I think we should delay. I don't think we would have the votes to approve this tonight. And on the 15th. I think the developer should stand up here and transfer confidence to us that if we approve this, that we will be in a position to move forward.

Councilmember Regnault.

Thank you. And I'll add the confidence that I want is not just that the apartments will move forward because the apartments were like one of the lesser exciting pieces of this proposal, right? It was all of that activation we were gonna be getting on France and some of the owner occupied units, right? And so knowing that the parts that I was more excited about are the parts that are up in the air, that's where I want confidence in is that the project that we approved is gonna be very, very close to the project that the team is gonna be bringing forward and we'll actually be building. not just on the department side.

So Mr. Landhauser, you may or may not be able to talk about that in detail depending on what your negotiations are, how your ongoing negotiations are taking place.

Sure. So to speak to that to the best of my ability, right here right now we are working the approved plan to the best of our ability i think all of the feedback that has been uh occurring over the past couple months with the council of planning commission on what's happening where concern had been about some of the changes that have been proposed we are working back towards the approved plan likely will not be identical um but our intent is to carry forward the spirit and kind of the original layout the things that we've heard again reiterated through the last couple months of of comment from the planning commission and this body so we are actively working through that we've got a couple partners that are very much in line with that enclave is taking another um look at part of the project to do themselves to again uphold kind of that greater vision so that's kind of where we are as of today all right um we're gonna

I don't think you're any more at risk in the 15th than you are tonight. I mean, whether you get two days' notice or 13 days' notice or 12 days' notice, it's not going to matter.

The only thing that we would contemplate doing just to be protected and current is we probably tomorrow submit for our footing foundation permit on the northeast building just to make sure that we're compliant with the development contract obligation of having a hand by the 17th

and I guess There's plan dedication and stuff Daffin kind of think through the minute Permit itself a happy withdraw my quest for because the fact only the action of being a But it might also engender some confidence if you've got pulled that purple fun, you know understood so I

All right, is there a motion to table the matter involving Resolution 2026 that involves a one-year plan to extend 7235 France Avenue to the City Council meeting on September 15th, 2026?

So moved.

Second. Seconds. The motion is stated. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Member Risser.

Agnew?

Aye. Councilmember? Work session, discussion on it.

And the idea that came up in there, I think embodied at least in part in one of the rules that came through here, and we've got the director with us to talk about potential approval of ordinance 2026-12.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. Thank you for having me again. This is a continuation of your August 18th meeting, where you had a first reading of an Ordinance change to our Edina City Code that stemmed from a conversation that you actually had on August 5th as well. This evening you did meet in work session to provide some additional direction. Really, this was the result of kind of the question being asked is, do we have the tools we need to ensure the safe and orderly operation of our park system? And if not, what tools should we consider? And we try to design these tools to ensure that we had those at our disposal if needed, as well as to ensure that we protected the right of assembly and the right of free speech. as we looked at this. Taking the feedback that we received from you on the 18th, staff went back and reviewed that language and got a little more precise and a little bit more targeted. We had that discussion again this evening in work session. So to summarize, we looked at where some of those conflict items were in our park system and what we could do to address them. So the first recommendation we had was around the, performance and application of sound just at arneson acres park and while we do have a sound ordinance or sound limits they are adhered to much differently and this would allow us to ensure that the performance of application of sound only at arneson acres park is not allowed without a permit and there have been a number of times we have issued permits for neighborhood associations for their annual events there was a Valued members of our community that perform during the dedication of the Tranquility Garden Labyrinth as well as those things so we do do permit things when they are appropriate the second is Not just at Arneson acres, but that's where we're seeing the most impact as well as but citywide is to not allow the for-profit commercial entertainment or Assembly pretty much the catering and events that that we've talked about last time The third item is to ensure that if you do go through the process and you do gain a permit from our department, whether that's for a park building, a park shelter, an athletic field or other designated space, that you actually do have priority of use. And while those other spaces can be used, if someone does arrive with a permit and we do have written in here that the person that receives the permit should be on site as well within that vicinity. And if you do not have a permit and someone else does, then we're gonna ask you to leave that reserved area. We did talk at length about the gathering limits of 25 or more. I did feel like while the council had a full understanding of what those implications are, that there is a hesitation of ensuring that we get that correct, that we get that appropriate and measured. And that language has been struck from the proposal this evening. Last, we had a number of things that kind of codified what the process is and around our seven day window for reservations. That up on your screen and that kind of continues and it codifies what our current practices is that to get a permit we do ask for seven days advance notice around around those things. Conditions around how to deny how modifications or. Would go to those permits and we do those at times Again, as I mentioned the person responsible being on-site. That is a big one. Especially when we look at some of the Permit reservations that are resident only we want to ensure that they are reserved by the person that did that and that they are on-site and an appeals process that if someone does feel aggrieved by that action Then the last one is really a mechanism, again, a tool to ensure that myself or my staff or law enforcement can declare part of a park facility closed. And during that discussion this evening, you wanted to add additional codification language around that to sure that it was in the interest of public health safety or welfare or the condition of the park facility. So that was a clarification of from your staff report to this evening. In addition, we want to ensure that the above language that previously had mentioned that violations of the ordinance are a misdemeanor that we do classifications on the advice of of our city attorney and our city prosecuting attorney that those are not misdemeanors. Those would be a petty misdemeanor. But as we've talked about through this, we really want to have education and compliance. We are not looking to criminalize our park system. And that's kind of a summary of, I think, how we've gotten to this point this evening and the discussions that you've had along the way.

Thank you, Director. Senator Agnew.

Thank you. And thank you for all of the work that you've done on this over the last few weeks and for helping to steer that conversation that we were able to have on it during the work session. So there was one component of feedback that we received through Better Together, and it's coming to topics sort of related to park use, but fee usage, et cetera. So we have a pretty large annual easter egg hunt that happens at artisan acres i just want to my reading of this i don't think impacts that in any way but i am looking for that clarification from you that that existing kind of large-scale community event wouldn't be prevented from continuing on in that existing format given these updates and changes is that correct that is correct councilmember ignew that actually falls under the

community engagement managers role that she interfaces with all the neighborhood association and works to And she's developing a process about how those associations will work together with her on how all those events planned That is actually one where we do permit and that is one where we actually give a sound permit because they have a bullhorn to say start and when to stop so But again, that is gone through that formal process of review and this would not impact that at all.

Wonderful. Thank you

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I also want to say thank you for the work. And I want to thank the Udina Somali American community who's been really good at helping to refine this. Really, this is much cleaner and more usable by everybody. The one thing that our conversation was that everybody who's I've heard about this wants our parks to be safe and they want new tools to make this safe and that was from all perspectives and so I think this does that one of the things that we had in our discussion upstairs is this gives the police an additional tool for for it doesn't have to go from doing nothing to criminal enforcement. So, of course, the parks can come in and say, you know, break this up. It's time to go home. But when the police arrive, they don't have to make that choice between doing nothing and arresting people for a crime. Now, a petty misdemeanor is technically a crime, but it's a civil crime. You can pay with a fine. And so we'll have people who are responsible for being in the space, and then if they're acting irresponsibly, the police can come and say, okay, it's time to go home. So it's a softer tool than just arresting them and taking them down to the station. you know, all that sort of stuff. So I think that's a really good tool. I think this addresses the concern that everybody had. It also addresses concerns that have been coming up in our parks over time with some other things. So I think we've got some good tools here, and I believe that the improved language on the enforcement part and Section 6 of Section 24-258, this last line here, Does help make it clear so that it's like OK, we have a reason that we're shutting this down and we can articulate that rather than public interest, which is a little bit softer term. So overall, I think this has been a good process. I think this will make our park safer. I think it will make people who take the time and effort to make a permit feel that they can actually use the space they've gone to trouble to reserve. So I am really pleased with the outcome of this.

director better mentioned we had an extensive conversation in the work session about this uh... proposed ordinance and uh... one of the strike throughs you've seen tonight is on uh... two fifty twenty four dash two fifty four uh... subparagraph eighteen and i thought maybe uh... council member pierce could address a little bit of the concern about that issue and the resolution of it. Number 18.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So just a thank you for um going through and really trying to hear our feedback the community and I think you've done a good job of addressing many of the concerns and frankly I learned there are things that I learned in the meetings that you and I had as we kind of went through this so I appreciate that as well the In regard to this particular change, the one thing I would say is, and this is hard sometimes I think for when you're doing policy work, there's never been an intent to stop something from happening in our parks that our residents are doing when they're using the parks in responsible way that they're intended for. It was never our intent to stop that from happening. But when you're trying to draft a policy to exclude behavior we don't want to happen, and making that clear in a way that allows park staff and police to be able to address it in a different way, meaning give them additional tools, it's hard to do that. You're trying to thread a needle to accomplish multiple things with one document. And so one of the things that we talked about a lot in 18 was there are several reasons that 25 people might gather in a park. They could be doing a pickup tournament for soccer. They could just decide, hey, let's just go to the park and sit in a shelter and play bitwits, have a tournament, right? And we actually want people to do that. But we do have an ordinance, we have policies. If you're gonna use a facility, you are supposed to have a permit for that. If you want to just pick up and go and you see nobody's using it, we don't have an issue with people using the facilities. But we do prioritize those who actually have a permit. And so with this particular one, we did not want anyone to feel like, well, if you have 25 people or more, then you have to have a formal permit and go through the advanced reservation process. So by striking that, what we really decided as a council is for now, let's take that out of the ordinance, but do the hard work of figuring out what we do want to accomplish, what we're trying to accomplish with that. And then we may very well come back and add some verbiage in there. And we talked about several different ways of doing that. The one I will talk about that we've talked about several times is having some kind of reservation online kind of a system where if you go to the park and nobody is using a facility and you want to do a pickup game, you can open the app, see that it's free, reserve it so that city staff and our police and other services are aware now that somebody is using that facility during that particular time. We don't have the technology today to be able to do that. But the intent is that we'll continue to have conversations to figure out how we can accomplish that flexibility that we want to see, but we didn't want to have something in the ordinance that would exclude or preclude someone from thinking, well, if I've got a group of 25 people, I can't use it unless I have this formal permit. So I think you did a nice job of trying to thread the needle there and definitely appreciate the work that you and staff have done in this space.

I also appreciate the work that has gone into this and the evolution that has happened since when we first got it, and it has changed tremendously. I do think, and we talked about this in the work session, in terms of addressing what happened at Yancey Park, we ended up sort of conflating other issues with this and just thinking about maintenance in the park, the grounds of the park, I was at Arneson Acres and I could not believe all the trash that was in the parking lot when I arrived, so I picked up trash before my meeting. But, you know, you look at these Starbucks cups and you just need to pull down the little thing for protecting people's hands from heat and you can see when they ordered their beverage, their name, there's lipstick on the cup. And I was kind of thinking, we don't have the bandwidth to try to investigate who dumped their Starbucks, but they left behind a huge amount of data. And I was thinking if I had more time and resources. But anyhow, I think. Just you know, we need to some. This is a different topic, so I'm going to stop. But I think this this has reached a point where I'm hopeful it will be useful. And I really do appreciate conversations with people across the Edina community and look forward. Well, I hope if there are issues with this, I hear as well. So thank you.

keen about this uh... subparagraph eighteen repair of eighteen of uh... two fifth twenty four dash two fifty four we we we we found out that there are quite a few cities that have very similar ordinances i think maybe at least a half a dozen but despite that we decided that we felt like we were a good place in our thinking and we're going to encourage the open use of public parks and uh... I think with the mechanisms we put in place through this ordinance, the proposed modification of the ordinance, we're going to be able to accomplish all of that that we want to accomplish. And so I think my sense was everybody felt comfortable with the decisions that were made up in the work session about how to modify it. And so at this point in time, I'll entertain a motion to approve Ordinance 26-12 in its amended form as was provided to us this evening at the council meeting dais with a single piece of paper was writing on both sides. That's the proposed ordinance change on 2026-12 amending chapter 24 of the Adina City Code regarding additional restrictions for parks and publicly owned properties And I think you're suggesting that we grant second reading as well.

That would be appreciated, thank you, Mayor.

All right, is there a motion to that effect?

So moved.

Second. Council Member Agnew, Council Member Pierce seconds the motion as stated. Any further discussion?

I have a question. So granting second reading means this is both the first and the second reading tonight?

Waive second reading, yeah.

Yeah, so is grant second reading the same thing as waive second reading?

Mr. Kendall? Grant, second reading, the same as waving, second reading?

Sorry, Mayor, I was discussing something else. You had a first reading on this previously.

Oh, right. And then we made some amendments to it. Okay, that's right. So this is granted.

Excellent, okay. It's correctly crafted. Good, thank you. I couldn't remember.

Thanks for that question. Any other questions or comments? All right, roll call, please.

Councilmember Risser? Aye. Councilmember Jackson? Aye. Mayor Hovland?

Aye.

Councilmember Pierce?

Aye.

Councilmember Agnew? Aye.

We've got a passage of a ordinance, a creation of a new ordinance that will assist us in the parks. keep them open and fully usable. So thanks for caring about this issue and coming to the meetings the last few weeks.

Appreciate all of you being here. Sorry to interrupt, Mayor. I don't know if staff wants to pursue summary publication, but if they did, you would need a four-fifth vote to engage in summary publication.

I plan to bring that back on 9-15.

Okay. Great. Thanks.

Okay. That was a good technical catch. All right. That completes our... Work from an action standpoint this evening, and now we'll turn to our city manager for any comments he has to make.

Thank you, Your Honor. Just three quick items for your calendars. One, our city hall and other city facilities will be closed on September 7th for Labor Day. Also next week is the final interviews for the city manager position on Thursday the 10th. And finally on 9-11, we are planning a 9-11 commemoration event for the 25th anniversary of those events at Station 1 at 8.30 a.m. on September 11. Station 1? Station 1.

Okay. Council Member Pierce, anything for the good of the order?

I was... Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I... Unfortunately, really missed the police open house. That was a bummer to miss it this year. But I just wanted to give a shout out to the police department. I did sign up to do the police academy. And just the first session was really good. And We actually, now we have that. We also have Edina Yu as well. And so to be able to sit with other residents who are really excited about learning more about how the city works is pretty cool. So the work that the staff is doing to provide those resources And the dedication to be working like a full day and then have to come in and then you're there till probably 10 o'clock. I mean, we leave at 9. So I definitely appreciate that, that hard work. And then I mentioned this just in this last ordinance. I think it is also impressive work. for there to be an issue and then we were able to address it in, I think in a timely manner. And I will credit my colleagues that we didn't rush We didn't rush it. It's kind of easy sometimes to think, well, you have to do something right away. But taking just that little bit of time and then engaging more with the community, I think, ended up with a much better outcome.

So thank you. Council Member Jackson?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So last night was a police open house, and I want to thank everybody who had a hand in putting that together. It was really fun. I got to hang out by the dunk tank and watch some of our chief and our officers falling in, and they were really good sports about that. Kids had a great time. So thank you, everybody, for organizing that and for coming out. THIS AFTERNOON, WE DID THE RIBBON CUTTING FOR OUR NEW PUBLIC SAFETY TRAINING EVENT, AND MR. MAYOR CAN TALK MORE ABOUT THAT. BUT THAT WAS EXCITING, SOMETHING THAT WAS A LONG TIME IN THE PLANNING. AND THEN LAST NIGHT, I LEARNED that we have a new program at the Edina Senior Center that when you own a flag, there are rules on how you dispose of it when it is no longer in good shape. And so one of our Eagle Scouts built boxes to accept old flags and for the proper disposal them. So if you go over to the senior center during business hours, there's a box in the Sherwood room or outside the Sherwood room and you can drop them off there or at the police department and they will be properly disposed of. And I think that's super cool. I want to thank our Eagle Scout for doing that and the senior center for running this program.

Thanks for all that. Yeah, that was good. Council member Risser.

I have a request and this is based on the reality that at our next meeting we are setting the preliminary levy and I really would love to know what the most urgent deferred maintenance projects are and I feel like I'm trying to sift through information from our first retreat and then follow-up meetings and you know I heard that the roof on fire station number one needs to be replaced. I also heard that we need a new compressor for this building and I don't have the figures of what that would cost. I also don't know if there are other items that if they're not fixed could trigger really expensive costly repairs and so when we and we did get data we did get a list of buildings in the deferred maintenance but it was organized by how much per building and I need more granularity going into that meeting I really do I appreciate the information that has come and I think part of this is just me being used to what happened two years ago because we had the CIP in our hands Back in August and we're not going to get that till later on and I know We will have time to kind of try to wrestle with these things as I learn about Strachauer Park And you know, I'm looking at Lewis. I need to hear from staff What projects are the most? Dire I really do need to have that information. So more granularity would be much appreciated. Thank you. I

Thank you for that. Council Member Agnew.

Thank you. I just want to echo most other council members in thanking the officers for a wonderful evening last night. It was perfect weather. But I'll add, I think the most fun that my girls had was, so we had the drone up in the air, but there was also a QR code that you could scan to get the drone footage on your phone. And I did validate, and they were like, no, it's not always available, because that would probably be bad. But it was super interesting just to see how accessible that was, and I can envision the numerous use cases in which that would be valuable. But overall, it was a beautiful event, warm, but it was wonderful. I almost volunteered to go on the dunk tank, with the 90 degree weathers but you know i didn't want to steal the the opportunity from the officers but um so thank you for that and oh i also want to thank state staff um for all of the Additional time that y'all have spent with me going over the budget. I wasn't able to join the work session last time where we went through that, but I think I probably took just as much time from city staff in a one on one meeting, one on three. So thank you for that and thank you for helping to bring me along in that process when I wasn't able to attend.

Yeah, thanks for all that. Councilmember Jackson mentioned that we were today at the ribbon cutting for the public safety facility expansion. You know, the three cities that got together years ago along with MAC, so Bloomington, Eden Prairie, and Edina, sister cities, and created something that was really quite critically important in terms of being able to have a place for our officers and firefighters could uh... perfect their skills the complex out there i think will enhance those abilities a different way and it's really was impressive to see side benefits i i forgot to mention One of the big benefits of this is not only the fact that people are now having really an extraordinary place to train and improve their skills and professionalism, but kind of the intergovernmental relationships that have been expanded and built upon. Because it's just like in life, these relationships that you build with people are really important. So it's true also with intergovernmental activities. And you had a real sense that people out there from whatever organization they were from really cared about each other and cared about your city, the MAC. Everything was quite interesting from that standpoint. This will be another good idea. It's a little bit strange in a way because it's like a big pole barn where you can get cars packed up in a car or pushing a car inside a climate-controlled environment. But it's a really interesting situation and it will be a great tool. It's open house last night. I saw Carolyn working hard. There were a lot of hot dogs left over.

It was an open dog stand. Unlike last year, I think they sold a thousand. They were dirty, but

Shout out to Art Boylan, head of the Indiana Hockey Association, who's handled this whole thing on behalf of the association. I'm sure he's getting a lot of pressure, but just in about as professional manner as you can possibly imagine. handle handle something and he's got a letter that came out that kind of backed up the city and Reinforced what we had done was the right thing to be doing all the way along and then turn to address issues the issue of the day and that is finding more ice time somewhere and Maybe trying to accelerate some things. Maybe we'll look at Lewis Ridge quicker than we thought I So all part of the strategy. And not only Art, but I would think that most of the people in the Indiana Hockey Association didn't like the problem. But in typically Indiana fashion, they turned that pivot right away to begin to solve the problem. Because they all come out of environments where they're problem solving all day long, just like the rest of us in life. That's all I've got. We've got, I don't know, we don't have any meetings coming up for MLC or, not sure. Anyway, I guess we'll be interviewing city manager candidates next week. So we'll see you all there. I'm not gonna say is there a motion to return. Anybody have anything else? Okay. We stand adjourned.