Regional Railroad Authority - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everybody. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority. Today is Tuesday, August 4th, 2026. The first item on our agenda is to approve the agenda. Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second. Motion from Commissioner Conley and a second from Commissioner Anderson. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, our agenda is approved. The next item on our agenda is the meeting minutes from July 14th. This is item 2A, meeting minutes from July 14th, 2026. I'll move approval. Is there a second? Second. A second from Commissioner Guttel. Any notes or corrections? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, the minutes are approved. We have no claims registered today. Under Section 4, new business, we've got two items. Item 4A is... to negotiate an agreement with the Red Lake Nation College for a lease of Railroad Authority property located at 301 10th Avenue South for a period of August 5th, 2026 to July 31st, 2028, receivables of $12,000. I'd like to move this item and will somebody second it? Second from Commissioner Conley. Could we just get the headlines?

Chair Green, Spencer Agnew is with us today and can provide some background. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Commissioners, Spencer Agnew, Facility Services. This request is for a lease of an authority property located downtown just north of U.S. Bank Stadium. It's a surface parking lot. It's a remnant of a larger property acquired by the authority in the early 90s. Red Lake Nation College is a two-year tribal college with a primary campus in Red Lake, Minnesota, and then a secondary campus downtown, which opened a few years ago. So Red Lake Nation College proposes to lease this property to provide parking for students and staff of their downtown campus. They'd lease it for a two-year period. In addition to the annual rent, they would take on maintenance and operating responsibilities and costs, as well as the cost of any improvements for the property. Be glad to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Agnew. Could you say more explicitly what has the property been being used for recently?

Chair Green, commissioners, it was declared surplus by the authority back in, I believe, 2016 or so. Subsequent to that, it was offered for sale. A developer was selected, but they encumbered title issues related to the legacy railroad ownership of this property dating to the early 20th century. So that sale never moved forward. The authority, as well as the county attorney's office, worked for several years to clean up title to the property. So that process wrapped up a few years ago. There was also an interim lease with a private parking operator who operated it as market rate parking for a number of years. That lease was terminated by the authority when it was determined by the assessor that that lease triggered the property no longer being exempt from property tax. And as a result, the rental revenue received by the authority actually was less than the property tax liability. So it's been vacant for a few years now, and we've been evaluating disposition options. I do believe in the long term a sale of this property is likely, but the authority felt this proposal from Red Lake Nation was favorable in the short term.

Thank you so much. And I do want to thank everybody who's been a part of this. Like, this has been a conversation now for, I think, a year or so. And I'm really pleased that some arrangement could be found. I know that this means a lot to the Red Lake Nation College. And they're such an exciting institution themselves that I'm excited to sort of be a part of making them successful in some teeny way. And so I'm really glad this could get worked out. And I know it wasn't the simplest thing. So thank you.

Comments or questions? Commissioner Conley. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was just going to ask about that long-term possibility of sale. Certainly it should go to Red Lake. But can you talk about what that process could look like? If Red Lake wanted to purchase this from us and they're currently leasing it, what might that look like? And then how long in the long term are we talking about?

Certainly. The proposed lease is for two years. It would have early termination provisions so that if the authority felt it was favorable sooner than then to offer it for sale, that option would be on the table. Typically, when the authority conveys surplus property, it's done through a request for proposals process. I would envision something similar here where it's made available for whether it's specified to use for any number of uses, proposers to submit proposals for consideration. They could consider purchase price terms as well as the proposed use of the property. In discussions with Red Lake, I do believe they would be an interested buyer down the line. They are kind of still advancing their Minneapolis campus and kind of trying to grow that. And those plans aren't necessarily ready to go. But we would certainly plan to include them as an option to submit a proposal for purchase of the property when we get to that stage.

Thank you. And so just as a follow-up, something to consider is I think I'm going to, I would quote our land and water acknowledgement, but I won't. I think that what we should be thinking about is how we can be good partners with our tribal nations, especially as they operate in Minneapolis and in the county in general, and what are ways that we can just return land, especially to communities who have been here for a very long time. So these are just thoughts that I've talked with administration about in terms of where we lease, how we lease, who we lease to, and what it could look like to get out of a standardized process when it comes to our tribes and think about different avenues to return land that we're not going to use for any other purpose. If it's surplus, that means we're not going to build on it. We couldn't sell it. We ran into some deed issues. I think there's opportunity here. to be really good partners with the tribes, and this could be a way to think outside of the box on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Connolly. Any other questions? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, that item passes. Item 4B on our agenda is Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority funding commitment for the Metro Blue Line Extension LRT project.

I'll move the R1.

Thank you for moving the R1. I'll second. Commissioner Fernando, and thank you for seconding Commissioner Gattel. We just saw something similar but different in some key ways in the regular board meeting moments ago. So having brought this forward, we'll have the summary.

Chair Green, Commissioners, this is the companion action to the Hennepin County Board resolution you just passed, 26-0284R1. The key difference is that the rail authority, in accordance with Minnesota Statute Section 298A.10, can only commit to 10% of a project budget. this this commitment is 10% of the project budget and If a project budget were to be reduced this number would be reduced in alignment with that scope reduction that we spoke about earlier So the maximum commitment that you are making out of the rail authority with this action would be 358 million dollars Thank you so much any questions

Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, that item passes. Seeing no further items on the agenda, I will call this adjourned. Thank you.