Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Richfield City Council. It's March 24th, 2026, and the meeting it is 7:02 p.m. If you're able, please rise and Join us for the pledge of allegiance of the United States of America to the standy for. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to approval of the agenda. I move approval of the agenda.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. I. I. All opposed. And we've approved the agenda. Next, we'll move on to approval of the minutes from the city council work session of March 10th, 2026 and the city council regular meeting from March 10th, 2026. Is there a motion? Motion to approve the minutes. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any questions or comments? All in favor of approving both sets of minutes, please say I. I.

I. All opposed. And we've approved both sets of minutes. Next, we'll move on to the open forum. Um, if when you're called upon, please state your name and city of residence. You have three minutes to speak. I'll give you a 30 second warning with a yellow card and the red card will be if time is up. Um, we received two comments via email that um, all council members have received and there is a a tab that you can look at if you had didn't get a chance to look at your email right before the meeting to bring those up. We have three people um that have filled out cards. So, I don't think we need to extend the time. So, we'll start out with Burgett Johnson and on deck is Ashley Hyram. The United States is a country of immigrants except for the indigenous population. If you can attend and state your name and city Johnson,

can we start over? Yes. Go ahead. I'll start over.

The United States is a country of immigrants except for the indigenous population. If you can attend the naturalization ceremony, I urge you to do so. This is my journey to become a US citizen as an immigrant. When I attended my immigration appointments, I recall a large sign on the wall that stated, "We are here to protect you." I always felt taken care of, and my impression was that there was respect for all. In fact, at my last interview, the immigration agents helped a handicapped elderly person to exit by removing rows of chairs for a more direct way out. It made me proud. The people I know of that ICE has haunted or taken all have tried to do the same thing I did. Pursue the legal way to stay in the United States and to be eventually become a citizen. We seem to be in a time where a person's life does not seem to count. This is the flag I received on the day I became a citizen of the United States. And this is a photo of me after the naturalization ceremony. I look pretty happy. Everybody at the naturalization ceremony was dressed in their finest. I was seated between two men. One was from Nigeria and the other one from Somalia. A man behind me was from Afghanistan. The ceremony was early and in the excitement I had forgotten my glasses. At home, I had a hard time reading what was on my phone to follow the ceremony. We needed to do some tasks. The three men around me made sure I was on track with our tasks. People helped each other all around me. Finally, it was time for to say the pledge of allegiance and to sing the national anthem. Let me assure you, everybody knew the words and they were spoken and sung loudly. People who work toward citizenship pay

their money, make and go to their appointments and live a straightforward life. At my last interview for the naturalization test, my agent knew all about me. My only wish for that last interview was to have been asked more questions because I had memorized the entire workbook book. Many people are born as US citizens. But those of us who worked for it earned it. I often think of the agents and other people who received their citizenship with me and how they are doing now. They and I too belong here. Conduct matters. If we don't, it will come back to haunt us. How can we expect to be treated as American citizens who as soldiers or working, vacationing or going to school abroad if our own government mistreats the very immigrants who are helping this country to come become better? Um, by the way, we're having a cleanup for Wetsz Park on um the 11th of April and we meet at the band shell. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Ashley Hyung and on deck is Jenny Mren. Hi there. Uh my name is Ashley Hyung. I'm a resident of Richfield. Um, and I guess I'm concerned about the proposal to give the city manager and the mayor authority to spend up to $10,000 to reimburse individuals affected by ICE. This isn't about compassion. It's about accountability and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

In recent meetings, the council has already approved significant spending. 50,000 for rental assistance, 10,000 for business losses, and spending $97,000 in the budget. Now, you're considering what appears to be open-ended authority without clear limits or definitions. That raises serious concerns. Where does it stop? Are we prioritizing this over core services like public safety and infrastructure? There's also a governance issue. Granting unilateral spending authority to two individuals reduces transparency and accountability. If this funding is necessary, it should be discussed and approved by the full council each time. This is taxpayer money, not discretionary funds. Residents deserve clarity, limits, and oversight. I urge you to pause this proposal, set clear guidelines, and require full council approval for any future spending. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Jenny MREN. Jenny M. I'm a resident of Richfield. We never called my mom cheap. Fiscally retentive. Yes. And it will come as no surprise to anybody here that I am my mother's daughter. I too um want to address this what feels like we're just going to constantly keep money giving money for charitable good causes. I am all for charitable giving. I think that we all can do this. You all can do it out of your own checkbook. That's fine. But when we're talking about city money, um it's a very different thing. I when I budget in my household, I can't reach into my neighbor's pocket if I'm running over. I was very disturbed last time. When I heard the city manager say, you know, $10,000, the administration budget can easily absorb that. And I thought, what? You just have$10,000 extra dollars? That means you're taking more than what the city really needs. If we're budgeting $97,000 to charitable giving, that should be I mean, that is a lot for the city of the size of Richfield. It's a lot for the taxpayers in Richfield. I I know we can't change what's happening for 2026. that's already been budgeted and approved. I would much prefer that we have a budget of $100,000. Maybe we keep 20,000 off that we're not going to do for things

that come up that we want to do that we think that the city might um or the residents might uh benefit from. But this constant, okay, this happened, we're going to throw 50,000 here, 10,000 there. Everybody gets a check. And it just is to the that it's too much. It's not fiscally responsible. It is not okay for the city. Yes, you're elected, but to just keep saying we're going to just give more and more and more. Taxes are crazy high in Richfield. I don't necessarily feel like I get that kind of value for my taxes. I I'm happy to see when when the council is thoughtfully they want to make sure that if the Met Council is coming in is Richfield getting their buy in on on or what's good for Richfield? That's great. But this constant going back to the trough and giving more. It just at some point this has to stop. We can't just keep going in. If you've got that kind of extra budget that you can absorb it, I say we're taking too many taxpayers out of all of our pockets. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak for open forum? Is there anyone else that wishes to speak for open forum? All right. I believe then we have finished with our open forum for this evening. Thank you to all the speakers. Next, we'll move on to the consent calendar and I'll turn it over to city manager Rodriguez. Thank you, Mayor. The consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the city council in

one motion. Once the consent calendar has been approved, the individual items and recommended actions have also been approved. No further council action on these items is necessary. On tonight's consent calendar, item A, approve dispersements and claims. Item B, consider approval of an agreement with the Richfield Leadership Network nonprofit to provide social services to the city of Richfield and authorize the mayor and city manager to execute the final agreement. Item C, consider the approval of a resolution authorizing recreation services staff to submit a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Local Trail Connections Program Grant to connect NineM Creek Trail to the Southdale Library through Adams Hill Park and authorizing staff to execute a grant agreement if awarded and proceed with the trail connection project. Item D, consider approval of a storm water maintenance agreement between the city of Richfield and Best Buy Incorporated and authorize the mayor and city manager to execute the agreement. Item E, consider approval of a contract renewal with Adessa Minneapolis for 2026 for auctioning forfeited vehicles from public safety police. And I submit these items for your consideration as part of the consent calendar. Is there a motion to accept the consent calendar?

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Um, Council Member Hay Fir.

Um, we don't usually respond directly to comments, but because we did hear from two folks tonight and as well as written feedback about item 7B, I did just want to say a couple of things about that. Um, and this is the 5 to10,000 uh to help refund the toes. When we give money away like that, when we when we service something like that, it's not out of a, you know, a sense of sort of bleeding heart do goodness with no no strategy behind it. It's consideration of what's fair for our residents and what helps our residents succeed. Um, the reality is the impact of that towing for those who are affected is a combination of what ICE is doing and a combination of the city policies that we choose to have. We choose to prioritize having clear streets when there's a major snowstorm. We choose to prioritize being responsive um when a when a car has been there for longer than 48 hours. It's something our residents expect out of us. Um I'm liazison to the transportation commission. They urged us and they give of our time of their time for free to us. Um they urged us to simply say we're not going to tow at all. That was the initial proposal that our staff reviewed. That seems like it's free but in fact creates a bunch of other issues. Um we would have complaints. We'd have to be telling residents, sorry, we're not enforcing that. We'd have to ignore that issue and we'd have maintenance issues with our streets. This for 5 to 10,000 to be able to address the need that our volunteers said was important for equity and fairness in our city. Um, and to not create those issues of snow plows getting, you know, having to work around cars and all of those things. I think that's5 to$10,000 well spent. And I do think in terms of the broader ways that we're spending money in this, that's more on the EDA and H side. It's ultimately about helping businesses and residents succeed, be in a good, stable financial position that they're able to to pay the taxes that we all have to pay, and to do well in our city. And I I do think that's worthwhile. I very much wish we weren't in the situation of having to pay these added costs, but I

do think they're money well spent, and that's why I support this tonight. Are there any other comments? Um, Council Member Burke,

I just want to comment on 7C and thank uh recreation services staff for applying for this grant. I walk through that area quite often and knowing how South Library, what the plans are there and how important it is for children to get from that library over to the park and other areas. It's really going to be great for them to have a path that's off the road to get from one to the other. It's a fairly dense uh amount of living situations over there, dense density of of housing over there. So, it's really an important thing to finally get that done and hopefully in the long term we'll eventually get connected to 66 the trail on 66. So, again, I want to thank recreation staff for working on this.

Thank you. Any other comments or questions on the consent calendar? Go ahead.

Yeah. Uh, I definitely want to thank the Richfield Leadership Network for putting together all of the the event that they had last weekend for fundraising for our community and for any emergency needs that are uh that are coming forward uh after Metro Surge. Um they are spearheading the relationship that has spawned into the safety network as well as a relationship with a private donor to to kind of wipe away debt. Um that's not our job here at City of Richfield, but there is a huge community of people that have come together in order to um ease some of the the uh devastation that's happened. So, um I appreciate the Richfield Leadership Network for stepping up.

Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Okay, the motion before us is to p to um approve the consent calendar. All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed and approve the consent calendar. Next, we'll move on to other business and item 12A, Council Member Hayer Liry.

Thank you. This item is to consider a correction to an alternate appointment to fill a vacancy in the advisory board of health and approval of Eric Porter as advisory board of health commissioner. An administrative error by staff led to the appointment of the incorrect alternate commissioner to the advisory board of health at the March 10th, 2026 meeting. Staff is recommending city council remove the incorrectly appointed commissioner from the advisory board of health and approve the appointment of Eric Porter as advisory board of health commissioner. Eric was the designated alternate for the advisory board of health. The incorrectly appointed commissioner Jacob Peterson will be considered for appointment to a designated seat with planning commission in separate report and motion. Two commissions have been notified and staff confirmed the error does not affect meeting quorum and neither commissioner has participated in or voted in any meetings pending these corrections. So that is the conclusion of the staff item. I did just want to add on a personal level because I I presented this report when we made it. I just I regret the error on the council level two. We do interview these folks and I that should have jumped out to me. So apologies to Mr. Porter and Mr. Peterson and we're glad to get this straightened out. Um, so I will first uh make a motion that we remove alternate Jacob Peterson as advisory board of health commissioner.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed. Okay. I will also move that we approve the appointment of Eric Porter as advisory board of health commissioner commencing on March 24th, 2026 and expiring January 31st, 2027. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I did want to thank Mr. Porter for serving on the advisory board of health because I know there's a number of significant issues that that board will be discussing. Thank you. All in favor, please say I. I.

All opposed. And we have approve approved the appointment of Eric Porter to the advisory board of health. Next, we'll move on to item 12B and I'll turn it over to council member Coleman Woods. Thank you, mayor. Uh, this item for consideration is considering an alternate appointment to fill a vacancy on the planning commission. The city council interviews candidates earlier in November and designates commission appointees and alternates in case of a vacancy arising. City council designated Jacob Peterson as an alternate appointment. A planning commissioner has vacated their seat and Jacob Peterson has agreed to join the planning commission with the term expiring January 31st, 2027. Maintaining a full roster allows for more flexibility in instances where a quorum is needed to conduct official business. Uh and so I would move to approve the appointment of Jacob Peterson as planning commissioner commencing March 24th, 2026 and expiring January 31st, 2027.

Second. It's been moved and second. Are there any comments or questions? And again, I'd like to thank um Jacob Peterson for serving on the planning commission because that is a very important role as well and it's really important that he will be joining us. Any other comments or questions? All in favor, please say I. I. I. All opposed.

All right. We've approved Jacob Peterson to the planning commission. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to the city manager report. Thank you, mayor. Uh, at our last meeting, we had six residents who addressed the council during the open forum. Four were on the impacts of the increased immigration enforcement and two were with concerns about the brightness, placement, and color of outdoor lighting. Um, they didn't have any specific questions and we have addressed the topics in previous meetings. Um, one question I did have for the council on future agendas, we have typically placed um when we just had two votes on it. Place the vacancy vote on other business. If there's a vacancy on the commissions, but with the development of the alternates, you select alternates when you do your annual interviews. I was wondering if you would prefer that we put those under consent. And staff does not have a preference. We're happy to continue the way we do it or we can put it under consent.

All right. Anybody have any comments? Council member Hay Fert. Um I prefer to keep it as is. I think it's just nice to recognize when somebody has agreed to give their time with the dedicated item. Okay. Any other comments or questions? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to council discussion. Council member Burke. Nothing. Council member Hay for Fer. Um I was just going to say I think it's too late for the volunteer deadline, but I'm excited again to participate in the What is the title? Job Olympics. The high school thing. Yeah, the job Olympics.

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I terrible at advertising this event apparently or remembering its name. But it is fun. I I have done mock interviews for like four years and it's always a great opportunity to sort of see how the students are doing really well and different stations and different volunteers work with different things. They pick out job applications. They fill out the application. They write the thank you notes. They focus on everything from, you know, how to prep for those questions, how to dress, how to shake somebody's hand. Um it's a pretty cool day and it's always really special to me. So, it's coming up on Thursday. On Thursday. Thank you. Um, Council Member Christensen.

Yes. I just like would like to uh give a shout out to the staff in the city here that uh I had an unfortunate incident last November that put me out for like four months and that uh I was able to u participate in meetings and different variety of things through the the IT department helping me with that and other staff members that stepped forward to help me. It's good to be back. Yes. Welcome back. Thank you. Um, Council Member Coleman Woods.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, yes. Can Welcome back, Sharon. And, um, I am wishing good luck to the Richfield High School basketball team tomorrow playing in this quarter state finals against Sartell at 4 o'clock at Williams Arena. Let's go Spartans.

Yes. Thank you. Um, I wanted to do a shout out again to Village Shores. I know Council Member Hayer Liry had talked about visiting them earlier. I also went back to visit as a followup. And then on Monday, we were able to go back and celebrate the 100th birthday of one of the residents. So, that's always fun to do. Um uh we had there was mention of some of the fundraising that's been going on in the community and there was a great event over at House of Prayer Church that was hosted by the Richfield Community Safety Network and it was animals helping people and that was very animals helping humans I guess and it was um a huge huge turnout. So that was fun to see everybody out in the community. And finally, um, Henipin County has a program for, um, helping small businesses and it's still open tomorrow if you want to apply for that. And then our, um, economic development department is going to be um, having one start in the next couple of weeks. So, please watch for those um, advertisements or the how you can go ahead and apply for that. So, thank you to everybody who put that together in the st worked on it with that. Is there anything else to come before us? Then I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Second. Motion. Oh, sorry. Motion to second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed. We stand adjourned. Thank you all.