Housing & Redevelopment Authority - Regular Meeting

🎵 🎵 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Roll call, please. Bowie? Coleman? Here. Jost? Here. Kim? Here. Snaker? Here. Yang? Here. Chair Johnson? Here. Six are present, one is absent, that being Commissioner Bowie. Item number one for discussion is resolution 26-883, resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a master legal service agreement with Barnes and Thornburg LLP citywide.

All right, this item here is before us for approval. It's a resolution presented from the city attorney's office. There typically aren't staff reports for this item, but hopefully people have had a chance to review the board report. Any questions? All right, seeing none, I'll take a motion from Commissioner Bui to approve.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Seven in favor, zero opposed. The resolution is adopted. Item number two, resolution 26-889, resolution of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, HRA, of the City of St. Paul, exercising the HRA's authority to opt into and support the Ramsey County Economic Development Authority, EDA.

All right. So over the course, we had different bodies listen to different presentations. So this is very much a continuation both for the city council and the St. Paul HRA. We have to approve either to opt in to the Ramsey County Economic Development Authority. We received a presentation in our policy committee. a few earlier this month, I believe, and we were able to ask any questions. However, in addition to that, I'm going to actually welcome up Mr. Olsen at this time. I want to bring folks' attention to the resolution. One of the pieces that council leadership, as well as the HRA leadership piece, have talked about is just wanting to ensure that this body has the ability to approve the spending plan that is implemented for the St. Paul portion of the EDA. So there's a line that is a be it resolved clause that talks through that need for approval. Because we were all in back-to-back council business meetings today, we actually just received a email around 1.37 today around some of the concerns. I'm actually inviting Mr. Olson to come and articulate that to this body because there's been several different off conversations, but it's a little confusing to us as to what the actual concerns from the county are related to a one sentence be it resolved clause regarding the spending plan approval. And so I just wanted to bring you forward to just kind of share what questions you might have. Welcome, Mr. Olson.

Thank you, Councilmember, Commissioner, Chair. I think we sent a message today to a couple of you just asking for a delay in this piece. And part of that reason was is We have been asking all of the jurisdictions across Ramsey County for resolutions of support or opting in. And so the resolution that was put forth in your packet is different than what the rest of the cities across the county have approved, including 15. And so we just wanted to take a pause and just reflect and understand how that deviates and changes the others, just so that we have consistency. That was our key goal that we wanted to establish across the board as we're going through this process where we're getting, in this case, 18 or requesting 18 resolutions of support from every single city. So the message that was just sent today, because we hadn't seen the language prior to today, was just a request. We did outline a particular period of time for approval. June 1st is what we had outlined in a memo to you all. I would just say that we built in a short buffer in that process, just strategically, knowing that some councils may take things up or it may not line with their calendar. Our plan at the county level is to take up the area of operation on June 15th. I think that's June 15th, yeah. Or June 16th, excuse me. Let me correct my words already. June 16th, which is Tuesday, June 16th. Just making sure that this resolution happens prior to that is what we're kind of going towards. So yes, we identified a deadline. That was just to hopefully get everyone to align to those dates.

Thank you, Mr. Olson. And just to provide some context, so we did receive the resolution draft from Ramsey County. We also, as in the HRA and the council leadership, we went through the process of also having our city attorneys review the language that was presented. But we also added in a be it resolved clause for approval of the city's portion of the spending plan. And also just to bring it back to this body to approve the final resolution. what the plan will be to invest the economic development dollars here in the city of St. Paul. Are there concerns regarding that request?

I don't know if it's necessarily that. I think we're very committed to collaboration on how we come to agreement and how the HRA dollars or the EDA dollars and the programming that comes from those is kind of established. I think what we're sensitive in this moment is acknowledging that We have resolutions now that are different across jurisdictions. I'm wanting to make sure that we have that correct before we go to the board. So realizing you had it on your agenda for today, I know it's a further delay, but I think it's appropriate given that we just want to make sure that the resolutions are approved and that we can kind of move forward. And so when the board approves the area of operation later in June that we're fully vested and everything is right so we don't run into further delays or challenges as we get towards an implementation schedule that starts next year.

Okay, I see Vice Chair Josiane as well, and I also see Council President. One thing I will share with you, and also to my colleagues, we rushed really heavily to get this item on the agenda to meet your June 1st deadline. I think if there was cushion and the ability to have it, I'm a little disappointed at how over the last two hours this has actually been something that has been brought forward to us. But also as a reminder, the City of St. Paul has had a history of being in distinction. We actually differ from all the rest of the municipalities as it relates to the HRA and the spending authority, including having 50% of the EDA pot that we opted in being actually allocated and restricted to the use here in the City of St. Paul. And so I don't actually think that we have had a history of conforming to have uniformity across the board as the City of St. Paul has been distinct in having the City of St. Paul and the St. Paul HRA even have to opt in and approve this process. And so the timeliness of it, I'm a little concerned about, as well as just the process and procedure for what can be accomplished with the layover. But out of respect, frankly, for the county manager's email that I just had a chance to receive, I'm open to a one-week layover for this item. But my expectations would be that we answer the real question, which is the City of St. Paul's Housing and Redevelopment Authority would like to have the ability to approve your final plan for the City of St. Paul. And so if there's an ability to be able to find or alter language in order to accomplish that, I'm open to that language. But that's part of the reason why the be it resolved clause was there. And that's actually what some of my colleagues have echoed in response. It was one of the few edits we received when we shot this around. And so I would encourage you all to provide the direction for whom we should speak with, because I actually think it'll be a city, also a city attorney's office piece. And I'm just sharing that for, I see John here to my right, but also because we have a process too of getting folks in. They had very little turnaround to be able to even approve the resolution language. And so from the city side as well as the HRA side, it's hard to do things like that with such a quick turnaround. And out of respect for that process and respect for ours, That's what we would ask for your partnership in in order to avoid that in the future because this resolution has been public since it was put on the agenda on Thursday for sure. And then also we've had previous conversations about our desire for that approval process and authority here, especially with this body and the city of St. Paul. So I don't think this was a surprise. So I just want to be able to share that with you in full transparency. Vice Chair Jost. Thank you. I...

Appreciate mr. Olsen you being here I think and and I am supportive of a one legal at Leo I don't know if anyone's actually made that motion, but I think the the questions I have I've read the resolution. I really care about The city opting in to the EDA but I do have questions about the last clause that is Basically saying that the city's HRA shall annually approve a spending plan and I guess my question would be a couple questions, but Did the city six did the city of st. Paul City Attorney's Office review this entire resolution including that last clause and approve it and then I guess the HRA, you know being this body having a more substantive discussion about if that is in fact what we want to do. I guess it's not fully my understanding that all of us have agreed to that or that that's the best course of action. I'm not aware of that being discussed or decided upon yet. So I will just say that I'm supportive of the layover. I'm also supportive of approving resolution today amended with that last part removed because I know this is also on the council agenda today, but just wanted to make it clear where I stand on this topic. Thank you.

And I think to your question, yes, the city attorney's office did actually go through the language and did review it. We actually, the resolution that's put in front of you came from the city attorney's office prior to this conversation. Council President, I'll go to you as I know that this is actually something that you were really, you thought would be really beneficial as well. And so I just wanted to share this conversation to you all too.

Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Chair Johnson. And I think, you know, we can have our conversation about what's in front of us, as well to the request that's coming from the county. I'm happy to make the motion for the one-week layover. I share, Chair Johnson, your concerns about the timing, which seems to have been miscommunicated. We did think that we needed to adopt this today and rushed to do so. I also think it's wasn't clear from the many presentations that we received on this topic that all of the city's resolutions adopted in support of the ADA had to be uniform. I think if it was clear to us that the boilerplate template we received from the county couldn't be modified, then that's something that is would be important to know and to be communicated. Obviously, each jurisdiction has the right to pass its own resolutions and to make its own decisions. And so I think that's what we're trying to do here. To the content of what's in this last be it resolved, the understanding we've received from the county when we've asked the question about how will the city be able to be a partner in deciding how these dollars are spent within the city of St. Paul, how will we get to weigh in? The answer has been that every allocation of these dollars has to come to the HRA and be approved by resolution. And that's how the HRA ensures that we approve of all of the spending. It seems that rather than having each item come one at a time to be approved by resolution piecemeal, it makes more sense, as long as this body needs to approve all the spending anyway, to have a proactive conversation about how we're going to spend the entirety of these dollars at the outset, and then have those resolutions come in that are affirming a plan that we've already agreed to. So I think the resolution here is trying to absolutely conform with the spirit of what the county is proposing and not modify that plan to work together in partnership, but instead of just having every resolution come on its own, having a spending plan that is agreed to in advance by this body.

Council Member Kenton.

I'm just going to ask a few clarifying questions potentially to you, Chair. Did I hear you correctly? You said that 50% of what this EDA would... Like, we are contributing 50%, or 50% of the funds that is being facilitated through the aid are designated for St. Paul. Did I hear you say that correctly?

That is my understanding if we opt in. Mr. Olson, could you clarify? Yeah.

Madam Chair, Commissioners, So, The HRA, which will be the vehicle that pays for programming that is of the EDA, there is a condition that we have geographic parity between the city of St. Paul and the rest of Ramsey County. So of the HRA, 50% of the programming and dollars go towards projects and programs in the city of St. Paul, and 50% go into suburban Ramsey County. So the same logic would move forward in that we would, provided that the city of St. Paul opts in, then it would be a 50-50 split as well.

Okay, I appreciate that. I also appreciate the understanding that part of the reason why our resolution is worded the way it is is to avoid multiple projects coming to this body while there is a clear sense and alignment, most importantly, around the projects that we'd like to have seen completed here in the city. So I think for that reason, I'm actually okay, although it's not my problem, that ours might be worded differently if we take up 50% of what the EDA's work in the county would look like. And then a follow-up to that is, if there's any amendments or changes to the spending plan, would that come back to the HRA? If there were any changes to sort of the lineup or what would be considered in the project plans, where would that go? Would it come back to us for approval? Or what's that process look like?

Yeah, Commissioner Naker.

Thanks, Chair Johnson. Yeah, I mean, the assumption in the resolution is that we would adopt a spending plan by resolution. And so just like any resolution, we could amend that spending plan also by resolution. And again, what we've heard from Mr. Olson and from Ramsey County throughout has been that this is intended to be a collaborative process, which is why I hear that it's mostly just an issue of uniformity. I'm surprised that there would be any substantive disagreement with this, because it's essentially trying to codify what we've heard is the intent, is to work together throughout on figuring out how these dollars are spent. And similarly, if during the year we figure out that actually dollars shouldn't be spent in this way, that we'd be able to have a conversation about that, have that come back to this body to amend. Just like we would have to amend if we had passed a resolution approving spending, we would have to change that as well. Can I piggyback on my comment by asking another quick question, Chair?

Yes, go ahead. Thank you.

This is like our 3.0 of this topic. Mr. Olson, I think I misunderstood this before as well. So half of the amount in the EDA is spent in St. Paul. 50% of the amount that is in the EDA pool will go to St. Paul. But is it also true that the total amount in the EDA is determined by how many cities opt in to the EDA?

Madam Chair, Commissioners, yeah, this is... I apologize if I confuse you all. This is a point where this can kind of get out of control in terms of the calculus. So I'll do my best here quickly. So if you were, the one thing that's consistent, since St. Paul represents approximately 50% of the number, that's why we get the 50-50. If we have jurisdictions in suburban Ramsey County who choose not to opt in, it would change the overall total budget of EDA programming, but not necessarily change the value of where the city of St. Paul's programming would be at. So for example, if it's a $2 million, which is what we anticipated, your opting in would essentially mean a million dollars for programming within the city of St. Paul. If a jurisdiction in suburban Ramsey County chooses not to, that number could be diminished slightly or substantially, depending on who opted out. And in this case, we only have one jurisdiction who's yet to opt in, and that's North Oaks. So that number would only fluctuate a little bit. So it might be $1.95 million or something like that is the total budget related to the EDA.

And if the city of St. Paul opted out of the EDA, then the total amount of the EDA budget would be significantly smaller, and that would be split amongst the suburban cities that had opted in.

Yeah, maybe, Madam Chair, Council Member Naker, another way to think about it is if it's $2 million and $1 million is in the city of St. Paul, if the city of St. Paul chooses to opt out, then the remainder amount is the EDA budget for the rest of the county. So that $1 million to $900,000 in my concept or my idea would be related to programming in suburban Ramsey County. Because as we've worked with suburban communities, it's been clear that they've wanted to kind of move forward with this EDA programming. And so we would adjust. This is not in some ways different than how we have some of our programming already set up. Ramsey County receives a direct allocation from the federal government for CDBG. That's separate from the allocation that goes to the city of St. Paul. So our programming is limited only to suburban Ramsey County. So we would adjust accordingly if necessary.

I see. I think I saw your hand first, Commissioner Yang, before Commissioner Kim and then we'll go Commissioner Yang and Kim.

Thanks, Chair Johnson. I just wanted to say thank you for taking your questions and overall wanted to share my support for the one-week layover. Commissioner Kim.

I'm also supportive of the one-week layover. I'm not really interested in amending the language, because I think to the Chairnaker's point, sorry, the formalities are weird. I think an agreement is good as the paper it's written on. And so if there is alignment, I don't have any issue with the resolution in its current form. I will be supportive of the one-week layover.

Thank you, Commissioner Kim. Just looking around if there's any additional questions while we have them. Commissioner Bowie.

Just out of curiosity, since we're really asking the questions and getting clarity around it, well, first I want to say I do support the one week layover as a courtesy. I'm just hearing the conversation. I'm not sure what's going to really change within the one week, if there's going to be any amendments. But I do think in terms of the sake of the partnerships, ensuring that we understand what this resolution will be. But my question, given that we understand the 50% allocation, would the spending plan, would that requirement be solely on the 50% that's going into St. Paul? Or would the expectation as a spending plan be adopted for all of Ramsey County? It's just only St. Paul. I just wanted to clarify. And would that be, is that spending plan, is that led by the county to the St. Paul HRA, or is that something that our HRA director will be presenting to us?

Yeah, so I can just share that at this time, the way that the resolution that was kind of provided to everyone only pertains to the city of St. Paul's approval. So we are not interested. I just want to be clear for the record as well. So it was only the 10th, and I welcome the feedback that comes from County partnership, especially if you feel that the county feels that we may need to further clarify just that I my understanding of what the intent Was behind the language that's there on the beat resolve clauses that there's interest in this body being able to approve the spending plan for st Paul and so that I don't think it bleeds into the overall Spending plan that they have for the full amount. It's as it pertains to the city. I

And then as a result of the adoption of this resolution, the spending plan will be led by the, in terms of the reporting, that will be led by the county.

I mean, obviously, I think in partnership as well with, I'm looking kind of at Director McMahon, I think the piece of getting the annual spending plan right, we'll get that information from the county, bring it to the body as we would any other item, and just for support of some sort of sign that this is a support from this body and moving it forward.

I appreciate it. It was my assumption as well, but I just think just like the- It's good to clarify. Yeah, it's just under, and I think I just stand in full agreement in terms of, no, I don't want to support an amendment to the language. I think it's pretty clear. Whenever we adopt anything as a budget or any spending, there's a plan that comes, a report that comes to us, so- But I do appreciate not knowing all the details in terms of why we need a one-week layover, but I also just support my colleagues with that, supporting it.

Commissioner Coleman, I think I saw a hand.

I'm trying to figure out if I can phrase this into a question. Because I'm a little bit confused, and some of these are probably questions that are better asked offline. I'll say from the jump, I support the one-week layover. No questions about that. I do think I'm confused about the piece that was mentioned, I think, by Commissioner Naker about how The intent has always been that we would be approving any programmatic dollars spent from this From the EDA that are spent in st. Paul and wasn't aware of that previously So I think it might be helpful to just understand that process a little bit better and what how other cities Were planning to operationalize that having not included this whereas clause or be it resolved clause a I am not, and again, I'm the newest one here, so I could just totally be missing things. I'm not aware of other examples where we've been approving how the county spends county dollars, or conversely, where the county is approving how we spend city dollars or city HRA dollars. So I think I'm having some misunderstandings here, but it would be helpful to understand how it was envisioned by the county, and again, how other cities that have already opted in might be planning to operationalize that, if not through a similar clause, the one that's currently included in here.

Madam Chair, Commissioners, so per the HRA, our enabling statute, projects located within the city of St. Paul, located within the city of Roseville. The city where that is located, those projects do require a municipal support. And so that is a requirement, and as part of our projects, prior to projects going towards their final approval and receiving of money, have to demonstrate that they have that municipal support. That process is in place and I think we do that. I think what's just asked here is just differently is approval of a plan ahead of when that spending happens. It's just a question that we want to kind of understand and how that is extrapolated out over, you know, in this case, potentially 18 jurisdictions in Ramsey County. And so just, I want to acknowledge that's part of the reason why we're asking for the delay is just so that we understand the nuances between this new process that would be formed of the EDA, and so that we get it right and the expectations are established from the get-go. You know, I think it can be an administrative burden to kind of make sure that We meet all the requirements after things are done. So I just want to acknowledge that that's what we're just, I think, in this process, trying to do the due diligence to make sure that we understand that we have all the things in place. And the last thing I'll say, there isn't a very crystal clear playbook that's associated with this EDA in statute. And so we're making some... hard and fast good rulings around that as we talk about how cities opt in, how cities articulate their approval of projects, as well as other things that are associated with the EDA. I think we're a little bit in uncharted waters with all this thing, and so I think just taking the moment to acknowledge those situations is why we're asking for the delay.

All right, Vice Chair. Just one quick thing.

Yeah, I also shared some of that confusion that Council Member Coleman just shared, or questions. I think that wanting to understand what the process looks like with regard to the language at the end of the resolution is important, because I think that us opting into the EDA, and then the city receiving these funds. And when we receive funds, they come before us on our agenda for approval, usually as individual items, is different than approving a plan in advance. And what does that look like? And so I think that's kind of where I had the questions about, is understanding what exactly does that look like. And how does that collaboration work? Because I do think that that is what we're after here, right, is that collaboration between the city and the county when we're looking at getting 50% of these dollars. And so, yeah, I think that's what I'll be most interested in in this one-week layover is trying to understand what that looks like. But appreciate you being here today. Thanks to my colleagues, too, for the discussion.

Wonderful. Thank you. Yes, thank you for being here and making the time to come. I know that this will have to go before both bodies. And just so we just clarify, it's not a state statutory deadline. It's a deadline that Ramsey County was operating under for the June 1st piece, so we won't have any issues if it comes to a future meeting of June 3rd.

Madam Chair, Commissioners, yes. Thank you for speedily getting towards that June 1st, but we do have a little bit of wiggle room before our county board has to take up this item on June 16th.

Okay, wonderful. So with that, I see a motion from Commissioner Naker to move a one-week layover of this item. I'm assuming we'll probably maybe do the same on the council agenda today, but I see the one-week layover. I heard a lot of support for that. I don't think there's any further questions, but any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye.

Seven in favor, zero opposed. This item is laid over to the June 3rd HRA meeting. Item number three is the staff report, SR 26-107, full stack St. Paul update.

All right, I will hand it over to Director McMahon. I see Mary walking up. All right, handing it over to you about full stack. As folks know, this is the, as a preface before we do so, this is obviously being brought to us in part because as a reminder, this body allocated $350,000 towards the full-stack work for this year. And as a part of our updates, we've also been hearing about this initiative. Usually, sometimes it gets rushed in during the budget cycle, so I'm actually glad that we get to talk about it a little bit as its own entity and own work, really, as respect to the work that Ms. Rick does continuously on this project. So welcome, Ms. Rick, and I'll hand it over to Director McNann.

Thank you, Chair, Commissioners. Thank you, Chair, for your work with Fullstack and your involvement with Fullstack. As you mentioned, we've had a lot of different program updates and learning more about the work done within HRA and PED. And so this is an opportunity to hear more about the Fullstack St. Paul program. So I'll turn it over to Mary Rick.

Excuse me. Thank you, Chair Johnson, Director McMahon, and Commissioners. Good afternoon. Thank you for having me. Mary Rick, Director of Business Development, PED Staff Lead for Fullstack St. Paul. Chair Johnson, as just mentioned, requested a brief update today. I know there are a couple other things on the agenda, but wanted to take the chance to share a little bit of where we've been, where we're at now, and a couple hopefully helpful reminders, too, as we're going forward through this year. Also, as intro, thank you to Kim Chung, who joined us today from the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, our partners in Fullstack St. Paul. And you can thank him for the fun little fidgets that you found at your places. And I'll touch on those as well.

Okay.

So...

I'll just say it now.

So those were made by a volunteer brand ambassador that Kim helped recruit. And we have started giving them away for free at events lately. And they have been so, so fun and popular. So trying to bring some levity and a fun little engagement piece.

Is the brand ambassador here today?

What's that?

Is the brand ambassador here today? No, they're not. Well, shout out to them, because apparently they're working.

Awesome. OK, so launched originally in 2017, this initiative has come a long ways. We continue to emphasize the need for tech and innovation jobs and businesses across the city, helping residents access high-wage tech roles, activating our spaces, and advancing the narrative of St. Paul. Since the founding, we've successfully executed a mix of different initiatives, added more governance stability, and built a solid platform for growth. Fullstack team members and the broader community have continuously leaned in and adapted during crises. With some challenging years behind us, the tech community continues to leverage tech and innovation for the benefit of our community. Most recently during Operation Metro Surge, Fullstack was even highlighting various innovators within our network, including Next, who put together a new website and tracker called Total Need that was tracking statewide business impacts, as well as TurnSignal, which has some connections to University of St. Thomas, and they were providing on-demand immigration attorneys to drivers. And now with the rapidly shifting AI landscape, we are proactively exploring the impacts on our workforce and how industries are changing. You can see a few of the impact highlights here from over the years, and I'll call out a few other details specifically from last year. In our community events, In 2025, Fullstack supported 16 different organizations with event sponsorships. That led to a total of 41 sponsored events across the city and at least 5,000 in-person attendees. Most popular audiences for these events included small business audiences and startup audiences. Most popular content included tech for small business. startup and innovator showcases, tech workforce content, as well as some industry-focused areas in both med and health tech and clean tech. 80% of our event producers reported strong or very strong engagement of historically underrepresented community members at their events, which has always been a goal of ours. 75% of event producers also said this sponsorship helped them provide business exposure for St. Paul innovators. Our storytelling work happens through a variety of different channels. It's one of the key roles that the St. Paul Area Chamber plays with Kim's support. We use these channels to share resources, tell stories, highlight innovators. Last year, our newsletter theme, our newsletter, by the way, is called News Stack, if you haven't been following it. It's a monthly email. Last year, we had features on clean tech, responsible AI, med and health tech, startup funding, inclusive events across the community, and workforce development. But as an average, our socials, website, and newsletter awareness has been growing by 30% through follows and new active storytellers. Our email subscribers have grown organically up to 1,500, and we have over 1,000 LinkedIn followers. One quick story of a feature from last summer. We featured AI's impact on Minnesota med tech led by healthcare.mn. We sponsored their event in St. Paul. We featured their work in a newsletter and on socials, and we're now in discussion for a larger event here in St. Paul. I thought an interesting quote from that feature from their leader, Dr. Rashmi Kondwal, was that Minnesota is now at the forefront of a new era where artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare. Fullstack serves as one of our front doors for business development, linking companies to local, regional, and statewide funding, as well as workforce resources, site ideas, and more. Another example of the company connections, some of you may have heard of Flow Environmental. They're a cutting edge CO2 heat pump company that now has a demo and training site based at the local steamfitters and pipefitters. We built a relationship with them through our full stack events and various cleantech partners. And it's been a great opportunity to both help connect with new companies and understand their needs going forward. current leadership. We have a great group of leaders with continued engagement. Again, thank you to Chair Johnson for your continued work and role as a co-chair, also Commissioner Jost for supporting on an interim basis over the winter period. And it's been great to have Mayor Herr and Assistant Mayor Stumor-Langer bringing really great energy and refreshed interest and industry focus areas as well. Just a reminder on our mission statement and our strategic focus areas for the year. Our mission at Fullstack St. Paul is to leverage the power of tech and innovation to drive sustainable, equitable economic development in the city of St. Paul. From time to time, our strategic focus areas have shifted, but we continue this year to focus on building an inclusive tech culture, training, connecting an agile tech workforce, and launching tech-powered startups and entrepreneurs. For the building an inclusive tech culture focus area, these are a few of the things that we're focused on this year. Amplifying the voices, places, and stories that make St. Paul's Tech seem distinctive. Reaching underrepresented founders and talent through partnerships. Sponsoring, continuing to sponsor community events. We also want to produce a second annual innovation at the park event. And furthering plans for a larger signature innovation event. I'll also note that we want to provide the reminder to you and residents that we have a rolling review of tech and innovation event sponsorship opportunities, and those requests can be put in at any time at the fullstacksaintpaul.com's website, the bottom of our events page. Encourage you and residents to share content ideas as well, news stories, resources, success stories, and events in your ward. And that can be sent to myself or Kim or also just put in at fullstacksaintpaul.com on our news page. Just a couple quick notes about our first innovation at the park. We worked in partnership with St. Paul Parks to put this on. It was at Rice Park last fall. We put it together a little bit last minute, but we worked to coordinate with Mini Demo, who was putting on an event at the Ordway, as well as Twin Cities Startup Week that was hosting events earlier that day. So we had about 200 people at Rice Park and about 600 people across both of our collaborative events. Great experience. And round one, we had food and beverage vendors, family-friendly activations, some demos. And we're working to finalize a date and collaborations for this year. So we'll definitely be sharing more. And hope to keep build and would love your ideas and support as we go.

I just see your question from Commissioner Yang. Thanks, Chair Johnson.

Thank you, Chair Johnson. Just a quick question. It's a really great presentation so far. I'm a huge fan of Fullstack, so I want to say thank you for your work. I'm wondering, can you give examples of what sort of events Fullstack St. Paul does sponsor? Sure. That way I have an idea of what sort of organizations would be more suitable to share the information with directly.

Yeah, yeah. So Twin Cities Startup Week that I mentioned was one that we've traditionally supported. Networking events, educational events, startup showcases, business plan competitions. Those are all different types of events. But I mentioned some of the popular content. AI for small business. We've supported those types of events before. The clean tech events and med tech events. The one, you know, one mentioned was learning about AI for the med tech space. So there's a range of different sizes, formats, but I'm happy to ideate with folks as well. If you have an organization or a group that's been thinking about something, how can we help advise and strengthen that? We end up recommending event sites and venues across the city as well. So happy to go further there. Yeah. Yeah. Chair Johnson, Commissioner. A couple of follow-ups.

Yeah, go ahead, Commissioner. Thank you for that information. Do those events have to be in St. Paul? And then on your website, does it specify what those requirements are so folks can easily look at them and see whether they would qualify for it then?

Yeah, it shows our basic criteria, you know, tech and innovation events with a priority for them, you know, being in person in St. Paul. That's the basics. And then we have a simple grid that we have our team run through to make sure that we're prioritizing those dollars. But for the most part, we really try to make it work. And even if it's a lower dollar amount. So yeah, please, again, happy to share more and do whatever I can.

Thank you for letting us know about it. I will definitely share about it.

Thank you, Commissioner. All right. Thank you, Commissioner.

Okay, into our tech workforce side. These are some of the activities that we're planning for this year. We continue to focus on real pathways to good tech jobs for St. Paul residents in a very complex space where the labor market has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. We continue to partner with workforce and training providers, understanding the tech job data, working on various survey tools with our partners over the past year, and engaging St. Paul Tech employers about how their needs are shifting. In particular, we have launched a St. Paul Tech Employer Engagement Project with Ramsey County. We work very closely with them. We have a joint tech workforce subcommittee that we run together. And so we've been working through... to put this project together to build our employer relationships, to understand how AI is reshaping hiring and career pathways, and really work to align our limited city and county resources as best as possible. The long-term goal here is really securing real job commitments, but as I said, in a fast-moving space We're trying to learn as much as we can. So we are in the first phase of listening and connecting interviews. So we've interviewed about six different companies right now. We have a handful more to go in the next month or so. And then as we synthesize that information, we want that to help inform some of our recommendations going forward. There's a few more slides about this project in the appendix as well. Our last focus area here is helping early stage entrepreneurs and small businesses start and scale in St. Paul. We are connecting founders to capital accelerators and service providers. We are recommending sites and spaces. We are championing these founders and innovators at various events. And we're continually advocating and looking for additional resources. We know that the HRA, the city, the county collectively. We cannot help all of the entrepreneurs in this town alone, but so constantly looking for additional opportunities to support this work. And I would just then highlight this one quick snapshot of UEL. UEL is a prime example of an incredible St. Paul innovation asset that Fullstack supports and amplifies. Over 20 years, and they're celebrating their 20-year anniversary this season, they've supported 170 companies. Those companies have raised $1.4 billion and created 2,000 jobs. That is an incredible, incredible asset for this city as we build those startups, invest in those startups, and work to, as they grow and expand outside of UEL as an incubator, help land and expand them here within the city. So Fullstack's role specifically within that is helping to, you know, we've supported some of their convenings at UEL, the UEL Showcase recently. So through event sponsorship that bring investors, founders, and partners to St. Paul, through leadership presence and engagement, we work to help get various leaders there that are valuable to UEL as an organization and the founders that are sitting within the incubator telling their story. We just featured them in our news stack email that went out yesterday. So talking about their work as well as some of the companies within the space. And then continuing to share public resources, whether it's the business assistance fund, whether it's workforce connections, we're always looking for those opportunities based on those relationships. So that's the formal slides that I had today. I wanted to just share in closing, full stack is, I believe, how we connect people, resources, and opportunities in a fast-changing tech-driven economy. Always happy to take questions, and thank you sincerely for your continued support and investment.

Thank you, Ms. Rick. I see two questions from Commissioner Coleman. We'll start with Commissioner Coleman and then go to Commissioner Naker.

Thanks, Chair, and thank you so much for this presentation. It's all very exciting to hear and think about. I had to step out at the top of this, so if you already covered this, please don't feel like you need to re-answer it. But I'm just curious. I'm looking at the Building an Inclusive Tech Culture slide and about amplifying the voices, places, and stories that make St. Paul's Tech seem distinctive. And I'm just curious, kind of, top-level bullet points. How do you all at Fullstack talk about what makes our tech seem distinctive? And as ambassadors for the city and people who want to be bringing these jobs and this innovation into the city, I'm kind of looking for talking points. What should we be saying? And how do we show that St. Paul is doing things differently here? Yeah.

Yeah, Chair Johnson, Commissioner Coleman, thank you for the question. I think it's a great one. And overall, we've leaned into storytelling of different kinds, and we want that storytelling to be very genuine. We want it to be from voices in the community. And so I think my suggestion and advice is to look at who are those leaders and stories that most genuinely represent something, perhaps in your ward, but across the city, As representative, UEL is one of those examples. You know, and I think it's also very fitting for us to talk about how St. Paul is positioned as the capital city in Minnesota and looking at industry trends, tech trends, you know, the strongest tech industries across the state. So, for example, when I'm talking about med tech and health tech, that includes our proximity and association with the Mayo Clinic because people outside of Minnesota make that association. So, you know, personally and across the committee, you know, I think that is perfectly fair to talk about St. Paul as it relates to what else is happening across the region, what else is happening across the state, and how are we positioned to as the capital city to be not only leading some of that work, engaging our health care partners, for example, shining a light on some of the folks that are strong here, Minitronics Medical is a company that is, they're producing med tech products that are sent globally. There are many things to be proud of. I think just finding those that resonate and have a grounding of that mix of kind of the industry and data strengths as well as what resonates the most and shows up perhaps in your wards, and I'm happy to help kind of craft those stories a little bit further too, but I will also just kind of briefly note that I think there is something powerful about coming through these various crises together and that we've really had some incredible innovators and really incredible startups come together. The story of what is happening in downtown and Osborne 370 and the density of some of these new pockets is incredible. is truly very exciting and very interesting. And people are looking to St. Paul in different ways for what we're doing, how we're coming together differently. And quite frankly, not all cities are talking about tech and innovation at a stage when it is very much part of the national conversation.

Thank you. Commissioner Naker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Thanks so much for the information, Mr. Rick. Really appreciate all the hard work. I'm curious, in the very first slide, you talked about how the original three-year goals from 2017 to 2020 were these four. And I really like these goals because they they're very outcomes-based. They're not just about what we're doing, but they're about what are we trying to achieve through doing those things. So 200,000 square feet of more commercial innovation-related space, 2,000 more tech jobs, et cetera. It says here that those goals were achieved by 2020, which is great. Now that it's 2026, what are our new goals? I saw each of the work areas, but I'm curious if we have similarly outcome-based goals that all of those areas are driving toward. Chair Johnson, Commissioner Naker, I appreciate the question.

And I know outcomes have always and often come up. I would say, I mean, I think these are also very impressive original goals that Some happened because of our influence as a city and full stack and advocacy, but it certainly didn't all come together wholly because of the city alone. But I raised those up and then the various initiatives that we've implemented in the years since because there have been various shifts. There have been more emphasis on startups and innovation. There's been more emphasis on tech jobs. And the labor market has changed so significantly recently that it is difficult to list some very specific and, I think, achievable goals for the tech workforce dollars right now, which is why we're doing more of that survey work, more of those interviews right now on the tech workforce side. We had an RFP that a number of us worked on last year with some specific goals for training numbers and placements, and we just couldn't get enough clarity behind it given the shifts in the marketplace right now. So in the tech workforce space, we haven't been comfortable setting specific outcome goals yet, though I would say in the slide in your appendix, We note... We know for phase three, our hope is to have 100 employer job commitments through those pathways. And so that is one of our tech workforce goals, again, in partnership with Ramsey County. And so training numbers, training certifications, the wage rates, those have always been things that we've uplifted through this work, certainly in the tech workforce. side of it. So that's what I would share there. And I would just otherwise say that I think, you know, highlighting the budget slide, that we've been, you know, as kind of sensitive and responsible as we can be to the times. And so we're not overspending in these areas where we don't have a clear vision for those outcomes yet. And so hence my emphasis on recent impacts around community engagement and events and storytelling and the things that we were most active with this last year.

Thanks, Ms. Rick. And I appreciate the difficulty of kind of pinning down something as complicated and ever-changing as tech. But I do think, you know, we're spending $350,000, not including staff time, and we are doing a lot of work. And I think it's really incumbent on us, on the team, to make sure that we know what we're driving at. And so to the extent that as you're doing the surveying of employers or, you know, maybe as strategic planning goes on, I know it chairs on the board. It seems like when you're starting with a slide that says, by 2020, we'd achieved all of those goals, and now we're doing all of these things, it kind of begs the question, OK, so what are the new goals? And I know we have them, but I think maybe it's just a matter of trying to delve in and articulate them a little bit more clearly so that it's really, we know if we're succeeding, we know what else we need to do to get there.

Yeah, I think one thing that would be really helpful, so for example, I think the increase that we had, we had around the innovation event competition and festival budget item, the $50,000, like a report back on how that is going. And I think when you look at this slide in particular, I think it's really, I know it was in the appendix, but it's actually a part of the discussion, I think, especially as it pertains to future investment because we directly, this body directly funds this item in totality. I think it's really important for folks to also understand your tech training scholarships, the internship opportunities that have come from that item, if there's spending or what challenges are being faced, especially for folks that maybe don't get a chance to be heavily invested in the meetings that are ongoing. So I almost would encourage you, Ms. Rick, to look through your four items that are here on the budget. They're pretty clear in what they were meant for. And I think just being able to come back, we've had some steps as a body towards actuals and what that spending looks like. And we've also talked about things like programmatic reporting back and in the broader budgetary conversation. And as it relates to just $180,000 for tech training scholarships, placement support, and tech internships, what does that look like? And how has that progressed over time in order to really understand just how many scholarships have been given, what placement support looks like in this industry, if we're even able to move on in the internship piece. And if the answer is we aren't right now because the industry is changing, it's being able to also inform us on that piece, too, I think is going to be really important because As I kind of share openly in the meetings, it's like my background isn't in tech. And so being able to be a part of the board has been informative in many ways, in part because that's our brain. That's where we stem from when it comes to our investments, including things like our marketing and our communications. Last year, we kind of discovered just how that partnership really stems from that partnership with the St. Paul Chamber. And so what things are we doing when it comes to just social media uplifting, newsletter work that warrants that $55,000 budget item? In addition, it's like the community events. When we think about sponsorships, I love Commissioner Yang's question on the types of events. But I also know that you are in the circuit as well in the industry that has been working to fund and to support these events. And so even just seeing the events that we've supported thus far, and we plan to, and just where they are, Really, really important to understand the ecosystem that exists behind your work. And I think just like the where we are with the event competition and festivals are just like tangible as a almost like a continuation of this budget and tangible terms for us to be able to say this is the work that is moving forward. So it's not necessarily the broad vision goals, but just the tangible outcomes that have come from this investment because it was an increase from the prior year. And I just want to be able to justify that in the overall story that's being told, even from the work that we're doing. as we continue to think about how we even market that to our partners that exist on full stack, right, because I think one of the slides there is mentioned just that the city can't do this alone, and it's an industrial-wide conversation around the future of tech, and it's honestly really interesting in many ways because of how innovative it is, and I think when we talk about budgetary conversations, we're always going to get in the weeds of what is being spent, what's not being spent, what the outcomes are. So just kind of sharing that as feedback for you that I think would be really helpful to all of us to kind of see that, the where it's going, even in terms with the change of dynamics. And I think it's actually just really informative for us to have that knowledge. And I think for folks that maybe aren't in the room all the time in those discussions, we get a foresight view of what the investment is doing.

Chair Johnson, I appreciate that. I would add, again, and I'm happy to come back with actuals at some point and a list of the events and the details on those. The 180, to specifically speak to that, it has not been spent yet. That is one of the areas where we want to be smart about the recommendations that we're making. We are talking to Ramsey County about some opportunities. We've been working in partnership with with OTC and RightTrack as well to explore different ways that each of our work could potentially be layered together. So we're trying to come up with a solution that we're ready to really pitch and feel strongly about for that 180. But a large bucket like that And as it's noted here, we did not spend it last year, and that did not roll over. So those were some adjustments. And I would note that there were staffing adjustments within PED that were made because of some of those shifts, including Annie Byrne used to be spending more time on MSP tech hire, for example. And as you well know, she's doing a great job with commercial corridors work right now. Some of those shifts were also naturally happening. But I think we can absolutely lean into what are some of those other outcome areas. I think, as I framed up, I think we could continue to improve. How can we, with our chamber partners, also share the types of business connections, the types of leads that we're building from these events, and how does that connect to our BREA work, because I do think that that's a significant part of the puzzle and some of that presence.

Okay, so we are at time, but I do appreciate, you know, just being able to hear from you. I want to make sure that the follow-ups are just codified and what we would love to see, I think, from all the commissioners in that report back, and do appreciate you making the time and the work that you're doing, and I... I have no doubt that a lot of our partners as well are just very interested in going back in. The engagement work that Ms. Rick operates under is pretty incredible. And so just wanted to be able to give that space and to provide an opportunity for you to come forward to the body. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chair. All right. With that, we are adjourned.