City Council - Regular Meeting

Maybe it'll come up tonight.

All right, we're about ready to get started. If we could just have few folks uh grab their seats. All right. We will go ahead and call this meeting to order for the April 9th, 2026 city council meeting. Welcome everyone. Members who have an item to speak to. When your name is called, please approach the podium uh so you can address the council. The first item on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance. And I would ask all who are able to stand and join us in the pledge.

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank you all. The next item on our agenda is the of the agenda. And Tom, are there any changes or additions this evening? Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. No changes to tonight's agenda. Wonderful. Thank you. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda? So move. Motion from council member Grendall, second from council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I.

Opposed. Agenda passes as uh agenda passes unanimously. Next item on our agenda is the audience participation portion of the meeting. This is for items that are not on our agenda and we have a total of 10 minutes for this. We had a signup sheet at the back. Um I'll start with that one. We have Maggie Buckner on the first list.

Whenever you're ready. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Hoopa and members of the council. My name is Maggie Breen and I'm a resident of Apple Valley. I'm here tonight to talk about integrity. On March 12th, this council passed a resolution addressing the impacts of Operation Metro Surge on our community. I believe this resolution was the result of residents showing up, sharing their stories, and asking for their local government to stand with them. However, some of the comments made during of this resolution were troubling. We heard that this action was just words, that it was less effective than other resolutions, and even described as posturing. To hear elected officials vote yes on a document that denounces the infringement of civil liberties only to label that vote as posturing is a breach of public trust. If you believe a resolution is performative, it is your job as leaders to give it substance. If you believe it lacks action, it is your job to provide that action. You do not get to vote yes and then wash your hands of the responsibility that comes with it. During your comments at the March 12th meeting, the council expressed frustration that this is a federal issue. While policy may be federal, the impact is local. When our neighbors are too afraid to call 911, that is an Apple Valley public safety issue. When our local businesses lose workers and customers, that is an Apple Valley economic issue. And when a specific segment of our population feels targeted or unprotected, that is an Apple Valley leadership issue. Integrity is not just signing a piece of paper. It is standing behind the principles written on it. If you say you value quote community centered policing

end quote then we need to see a specific outreach plan to rebuild the trust destroyed by these surge tactics. If you've requested measures from the legislature to address harm, we would love to know which representatives you have contacted and what the follow-up plan might be. If you value quote respectful dialogue, trans constitutional protections, partnership across levels of government and community and quote, please invite us to the table to co-create actionable solutions and operation metro surge resolution action sub can be designed and facilitated with the help of citizens. Council, while you noted that sometimes we have to stick with words, believe those words only hold value if they can lead to action. If you or others on the council believe this resolution was posturing, then you have the power to change that by leading with integrity. Please don't tell us what you can't do because of the federal government, but show us what you will do because you represent the people of Apple. Thank you for your time tonight.

Thank you. I would uh I would simply encourage all those who weren't here to not only go back and watch that meeting, hear the comments that were made in their full context, but to also watch all the meetings and the comments that led up to them. Uh so everybody kind of has the context of the whole thing. But thank you for the comments. This is why we do this, right? Is the we want the comments and we want the the conversation, but we also want the context accurately what was discussed. So, but thank you for being here. With that, we will move on to our consent agenda. These items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a council member or a citizen request to pull an item. Council members, are there any items you would like to pull from consent this evening?

All right, seeing none, residents, any items to pull? With that, we would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second, Council Member Mander, second from Council Member Tert. All those in favor indicate by saying I I opposed. Consent items all pass. And we will move on to our regular agenda. We will start with 5A. And this is a fun one. We will 5A is to proclaim April 9th, 2026 as Margie Freed day in Apple Valley. And Tom is going to get us started here.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, and members of the community. This is a fun one tonight. uh not often that we have an Olympian of our own city uh that we get to recognize and so could not be happier tonight to to bring this item forward for you and to have the large crowd that we have and uh the celebration that we uh we all feel. So Margie Frerieded uh certainly has captured our attention, captured the attention of our entire community, our state, and it's been a fun couple of months here. But uh wanted to give you a little bit of background as best that I could pull it out and we have a great source as you know that our retired finance director Ron Hedber close to the family kids grew up together and so I'll apologize in advance if you're embarrassed by any of the pictures that come up here.

Ron was very helpful with all of that. So, uh Margie represented our nation, represented our city in the Olympics. Uh fantastic to watch. Uh brought a lot of smiles to everyone. But as you can imagine, the road to the Olympics is a long one. And tonight, we wish to celebrate all that went into her becoming an Olympian and becoming an Apple Valley hometown hero. So, this is the first picture that I'll show.

This is Margie along with Sydney Hedberg uh who were very close uh growing up along with Kylie. I think those were the three folks who were together. But this photo shows the two of them. And if you look carefully, those are like medals hanging around their neck. So, the the Olympic dream started fairly early.

This looks like a wonderful activity that was uh was put on by Margie's mom, I understand, and uh uh would love to hear the rest of that story, but a great photo growing up and uh thinking about the Olympics. So, the path to the Olympics uh involved she was very involved in sports at a young age, dedicated soccer player, uh a talented student athlete, did a lot of other sports as well. Um, this was that I had found in some of her material. I started skiing with the high school team and liked going to practice because my friends were there. And that's what uh youth sports in Apple Valley is all about. We have a terrific system of youth sports through the schools, through the athletic associations, through our own parks and recreation department and it pulls people together and it really puts uh puts folks in a place um actually meet their potential and certainly that that happened in this case. Uh attended Eastview High School uh was at Green Leaf, went to another school for a while and then came back uh to Apple Valley with East View. Uh there she lettered in cross country, track and field, soccer, Nordic ski, uh Nordic skiing state champion in 2016, six-time all-American, three-time Nordic all state selection, named the Pioneer Press St. Paul Lions Club female athlete of the year and all ed also as a member of the National Honor Society. So smart and talented uh in in all that she has done. After that, it was off to the University of Vermont. Uh competed on their NCAA ski team, the national collegiate all academic team in 2017. Upon graduation, she joined the Craftberry Green Racing Project and raced the cross country world cup that was actually held here in Minneapolis. began Bathlon in 2020 through a program that the US Bi X which takes talented

cross-country skiers, exposes them to what Batlathlon is and obviously she took to that very well and qualified for the Olympics. Here a social media post when that occurred. Uh went on to wear the uniform and went on to be one of those athletes great time in the the Olympic uh village.

Of course, she didn't go there alone. uh she was through the course of her entire uh career and growing up here in Apple Valley strong support here they are at the Olympics and I understand this was part of the fan club that joined the Italy to cheer her on as well. So great to see that kind of support uh coming with her as she went down this incredible path and uh she looks like she knows what she's doing. This is a pretty impressive uh the of itself with all the exertion that you go through with the skiing and then the concentration and steadiness that you need uh with the shooting part. Uh it's an amazing sport and she's done amazing well amazingly well. So with that mayor uh we'd like to have the presentation up on the screen. It's three pages in length. Whoever would like to read it and I think uh

I would but let's invite Margie up. She got to sit in the audience and kind of hide from that but let's invite her up. Uh, so read the proclamation. We're going to actually vote on it so we don't forget to do that because that would be really anticlimactic. And then I think we're going to slide out present this to you and take a couple pictures since we have everybody here if that's okay. Perfect. So we'll start with the proclamation which says whereas Margie Frerieded a proud Apple Valley native and graduate of East View High School has distinguished herself as an exceptional athlete and dedicated member of the US Olympic Bialon team. And whereas Margie's journey from local student athlete to Olympian stands as a testament to her perseverance, discipline, and relentless pursuit of excellence. And whereas Margie has represented the city of Apple Valley, the state of Minnesota, and the United States of America with integrity, humility, and remarkable competitive spirit state. And her achievements bring great pride to our community, inspiring young athletes and residents alike, and demonstrating the power of hard work, commitment, and belief in one's goals. And whereas Margie's success reflects not only her individual dedication, but also the support of her family, her coaches, mentors, lifelong teams, and the broader Apple Valley community that has encouraged her throughout this athletic career. And whereas the Apple Valley City Council wishes to recognize Margie Freed accomplishment in her representation of our community in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milana Cortino, Italy. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Apple Valley, Dakota County, Minnesota, hereby proclaims April 9th, 2026 as Margie Freed day in Apple Valley

and does hereby congratulate and commend her for her extraord athletic achievements and expresses its deepest appreciation for the pride and inspiration she brings to our community. Proclaimed this 9th day of April, 2026. Can we get a motion to approve all those words? So moved. So moved. I have to pick one of those, I suppose. So, I have a motion by council member Grenall, second by council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. All right, that passes unanimously. Let's let's bring this proclamation out. You can grab a quick picture if we could. Congratulations.

Thank you. Do you want to get No. Okay. You hold have you hold that? Family get there. I just want to make sure we don't all scatter before uh before you get your pictures. Yeah. Feel free to get up and wherever his baser is. We had we had nothing but time right now. You're good. We don't get to do this very often. Great. Thank you. Oh, yes. Congratulations. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Play golf with us. Thank you. Any words you'd like to share with the crowd?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and city council members. Um, and I also want to thank my family and friends that are here. And many of them came to Italy to watch me race, which was really cool. Um, and my high school coach also came to Italy and is here. Um, and I also want to, uh, give my appreciation to the Apple Valley City Parks. Um, I played soccer, as I said, and used all the facilities growing up. And um now they let uh the high school team practice at Valleywood Golf Course which is really cool and not other like um cities in the area uh let people do that and so I think that's really special. So yeah, thank you

everyone. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's move on to uh 5B, which is to proclaim April 30th, 2026 as National Therapy Animal Day. And uh Mary, do you want to come on up and uh introd introduce us to uh to your comp?

Um good evening. This is um my six-year-old rescue. His name is Duke Silver and we've been a therapy team team now for two yearsly volunteer. So we get asked to uh come to places like memory care facilities. We're going to be at the city hall or city event next Monday. Um we've gone to Girl Scout troops, boy scout troops. Um basically anytime we get requested, we usually go. But um we're just around to bring comfort, love, and joy to people who are in need. And Duke is the calmst. Anytime center of attention, he he'll take it. So,

well, tell you what, I am going to I'm going to read this proclamation and then we're going to we're going to let you just awkwardly hang out there with Duke for a minute while I do that and then we'll grab a couple pictures since we have Duke here. We don't get we don't get dogs here very often. So we got to get them in the picture when we do. Uh so whereas pet partners has designated as national therapy animal day and whereas scientific research shows that intricating with the interacting with therapy animals can reduce stress doesn't help you read but can reduce stress pressure, slow heart rate, lower blood pressure and strengthen the immune system. And whereas therapy animal teams in the valley role in improving human health and well-being through the human animal bond. And whereas animal teams interact with a variety of people in our community, veterans, seniors, patients, students, and those approaching end of life. And whereas these exceptional therapy animals who partner with their human companions bring comfort and healing to those in need. and we pet owners to consider becoming pet partners volunteers to help our community by creating greater access to meaningful therapy animal visits. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Apple Valley, Dakota County, Minnesota does hereby proclaim April 30th, 2026 as National Therapy Animal Day. Further, the city council encourages our citizens to celebrate our therapy animals and their human handlers. the city council service of humble teams in our community and in communities across the nation proclaimed this 9th day of April 2026. Let's give uh Mary and Duke a round of applause.

Let's get a picture of Mary. We still need to vote. Mayor, mayor, could we um vote on the proclamation? council member. See, I can do this out here, too. All those in favor say I. I post. Thank you. That passes. And thank you, uh, city clerk for keeping us on track. Charles, you got the good camera. There he is. sitting on my foot.

There you go. Watching his dad. Thank you. And thank you for cook.

Thank you. Monday pretty Thanks everybody for accommodating a little time picture as well. The next item on our agenda is 5C and that is the Apple Valley Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Network update and uh yellow excuse me presented by Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Network President BJ Good. DJ J commander whole crew bring everybody up. Good mayor and so members. My name is past president of Apple Valley Beyond the Yellow Ribbon and with me today is BJ our president allegiance side. Uh

she got promoted. Yeah, I'm done already. Nice. uh president of Apple Valley Yellow Ribbon and with her is Glenn Sony. He is our treasurer, no secretary, sorry, treasure secretary. So I'm going to talk about what we have done since 2012 became a city uh yellow ribbon city. So

oh that's a picture of uh a bunch of us mostly our board members um and volunteers there beyond the yellow ribbon is a comprehensive program creating awareness of for the purpose of connecting service members veterans and their families with community support training and service services and resources. Do I got to click some got you covered over there. So thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Nobody does. I need a lot of help. So,

the Apple Valley Yellow Ribbon Network. On March 30th, 2012, the Apple Valley Yellow Ribbon Network was proclaimed a yellow ribbon city by Governor Mark Dayton as a proclamation ceremony in Lakeville. The community of Apple Valley is comprised of a great network of volunteers supporting military families. Oh, you can look right up there. Currently we have six board members with the city manager and police department representative meeting monthly.

This is the picture in 2012 the very first day and we got the city up there and then we can move on. What is the yellow ribbon community? If I don't ch change this I'm going to confuse myself. Apple Valley Yellow Ribbon Community Unites all areas within a community. Create a comprehensive network that connects, coordinates, and agencies, organizations, resources, employers uh for the purpose of proactively supporting service members, veterans, and their milit. Since the first community was proclaimed yellow ribbon in 2008, several have been operating under 501c3 charitable work like ours. Additionally, many others are in the process of becoming aly there are six counties 12 87 companies in min. It is yellow ribbon. Minnesota has become the national model. Ribbon supports our local veterans through partnership events. AV Lions Club, the AV Post 17776 Auxiliary, the Chamber of Commerce, AV American Legion Post 1776, Apple Valley Von Hansen's Meets, Bogarts Entertainment Center, Prior Lake National Honor Society volunteers to serve our dinners. supporting veterans through our events. We host military appreciation dinners monthly to promote camaraderie, friendship, socialization, connections amongst all active, retired, and veterans. We work out at the Cody County Fair. We do broad sales at Von Hansen's. We do a chili cookoff with the Rosemont Yellow Ribbon at Bogarts. We do July 4th

activities. We are at the home and garden show this weekend. high school graduate recognition for the kids that are going into the military. A presentation in honoring Quilt of Valor recipients. This is our Quilt of Valor presentation given by Denise who is a Quilt of Valor. Um this was Les Shrink. He is a World War II veteran, a P for 18 months and did a death march in Germany for 87 days. Amazing man. He spoke at our uh Veterans Day event and I don't think anyone was not crying. So I mean he unfortunately he just passed away last month at 102 after he got done swimming cuz he swam every day to work out

even at 100. Good for him. Uh next is our chili cookoff and silent auction at Bogarts along with the Rosemount yellow ribbon. On the left is Glenn and Elizabeth. Just a side note, Elizabeth is a junior or senior this year. senior senior and she has been volunteering and helping our yellow ribbon for since middle school. So she's been with us since beginning. So on the some of the we had like 30 of them that day to go for through. I don't know how the judges can do it. Um and since this is being noted, I'd like to note that uh BJ and I came in first place with Spam Chili.

Good job. All right, this is our military appreciation dinner. Oh, you know what? I got some side notes for this one. Uh, this at the Apple Valley American Legion Post 1776. On the bottom right is the Apple Valley Lions Club. They come out once or twice a year and likes to serve the veterans. The middle one in the upper right is the National Honor Society from Prior Lake. Prior Lake. Thank you. And on the left is just some of the veterans that are there. We have done four complimentary dinners

on an average of 80 to 100 veterans and their families every month. Next is uh Dakota County Fair. This is on Military Day, which is usually the Wednesday for Dakota County Fair. Next is the the greatest parade in the whole state, the Apple Valley Freedom Days parade. Uh we have a truck, my truck in the in the trailer and we have veterans on the back and we're honoring the veterans. We've done female veterans, World War II veterans, Korean War veterans. Uh and this year we're going to honor four Vietnam veterans. Uh we do not hand out candy like most of them do. What we hand out is the American flag. Last year we handed out over 2,000 American flags in the parade route. So

Wow. the accompl accomplishments that we've done since 2012. We have over 11,816 volunteer hours. Since 16, we have hosted 94 military appreciation dinners at the post 1776 Apple Valley. Supported over 63 military families with a variety of needs during and after deployment. We've supported Minnesota National Guard during deployments. supported Minnesota air reserves before deployments and returned from deployment. We partner with city officials on special occasions or cases within the community when veterans have a special need support in solving difficult personal issues. And this is how you can get a hold of us to volunteer or help out or get involved. So

wonderful. Thank you for your time. Thank you for all the work you all do. But let's give them a round of applause for uh to that work. And we know Thank you. We know you don't do it alone, but it doesn't happen without the leadership and and somebody to step in. So, but thank you guys for doing that. Um we'll leave the number up here for just a sec or the email if people want to reach out. Plenty of volunteer opportunities and chances to get people plugged in. Definitely. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you all. Thank you all. Thank you for your support. Thanks for the update as well. picture that picture from tooth whatever was fun to see. Uh

I had more hair and fewer chins that day and um so fun to see those. That brings us to the end of our regular agenda. Uh we'll move on to some staff. So you've got a couple for us.

Mr. Mayor, I will start out and then we'll have one more after I am done. And if we can go to the Chamber of Commerce Home and Garden Expo slide, we'll get Do you want to uh should we just have our Chamber President Ed Carney pop up here too while we're doing this one? And you can we can talk about the city presence and we can talk about uh the Home and Garden Show in general.

Absolutely. We are pleased that our chamber president Carney is here with us tonight. Uh this is obviously a big weekend coming up with the Home and Garden Expo. Uh we wanted to certainly invite the community for that and uh you Ed has done his typical amazing job of getting the word out. Lots of great publicity about the event. uh there's I'll let him talk about the items that are going to be at the event. So want to just make certain that the public knows that uh many many staff members from the city of Apple Valley will be present at the event from inspections, natural resources, community, public works and our utilities department and police in uh we are there to answer your questions as you think about your home improvement projects and what the process is to get those done. Uh we will be there to hopefully help you along your way. So thanks y

and Ed before you jump in I I think Mary left but I would just note one of your sponsors is also Mary's company in country cabinets and so not only to me the other day and I told her I'd be here. So not only volunteering right her time to do that but also supporting the the home and garden show. So

yeah I just want to um be here. Thank you. This is just wonderful. Bobby Jensen from K 11 there every year we have the best one in the Twin Cities. He goes, "There's some bigger shows in the in the larger Twin Cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul." He goes, "But there's something about Apple Valley." He goes, "Maybe it's your timing or how it's organized, whatever it is." He says, "Everybody's looking at the other shows at ours. They're buying." He goes, "There's that seems to be the sweet spot." And that's not by accident. It's really a partnership with the city and the chamber. Um, that's how I really look at it. And I want to thank the city for everything you've done over the years from everything from the fire department to all the police and and uh yourself. You're standing at the door every year as uh many of you and mayor u seen John. You just did a 100 lasagnas with all of us for core women group for all those in need. I mean you it's a real true collaboration and partnership. I look at um if the businesses are the bricks, the chambers the mortar. You guys are the foundation. So, you're really what uh puts this all together. But, um anyways, just want to thank you and hope to see you there and all any of the citizens listening out there. Um it's this Saturday and uh there's it might rain in the afternoon, so there's a ton of things going on this year. We brought back, it's pretty expensive, but we brought all the superhero characters back. So, they'll be running around for a few hours. The balloon twisting where they make all the animals and uh the fire trucks every year. That's all volunt if they and uh also if there's no fires

and the face painting the students at East View do that we pay for all their things and then they come and all day do that. So we get about 5,000 people through there and we just want to thank you especially for the signage in front of city hall that makes all the difference every year. That's the difference in having 2,000 people and 4500 to 5,000 people. Now, this is this is an opportunity to uh right find our local contractors who are plugged into our communities and and go talk to people who are right here, our business owners about how they get the stuff done. Um I found my kitchen remodeler in 2023 at your home and garden show. So, right, I was one of those who showed up and bought. So, Well, thank you.

So, it does work and you meet some good people there. You get to actually, right, it's better than calling the 800 number and having somebody show up at your house. Yeah. I mean, we never say a business you can trust because we're not vetting each one. We do check, however, the public would want to know this. We check with the Secretary of State's office and the Department of U Commerce. Um, we do that just to make sure if anybody has what they call actions against them, we don't allow them in the show, as cut and dry as that. So, so we take some precautions just to be sure, but it's a big local event and thank you very much. Great. Thank you. Thank you. And tell me, do we want to call the fire chief up for this next one? Do you want to take this one? Our fire chief.

Let's let's invite Matt up to take the next one.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. Just wanted to talk or we wanted to bring up uh for those that may be watching um our fire department is made up of paid on call firefighters. So those basically citizens that live within the city um get training, learn how to do the job and the ones helping protect us every day. Um so we're currently actively pursuing some more firefighters. We're short a few at each station. So we're looking to recruit new talent. You don't need any experience. Uh you just got to be 18, have a driver's license, high school diploma or GED, and live within four minutes of one of our fire stations. um if you meet those requirements and want to join uh we're taking applications through the end of April and then um we will provide all the training um that's needed if you are make it through the process and are selected. So you can check our website for more information and we do have a meeting next Tuesday and Saturday um for the public to come in and ask questions, learn a little bit more about the fire department, what it means to be a paid on call firefighter.

Great. Thanks. Thanks Matt. check out the city's website for more information or to uh the times of those meetings. So, thank you all. Tom, any other items? Uh, council members, any items to uh cover this evening? I could make a comment about the fireman. You can turn your microphone first if you'd like. About the fireman. I uh I witnessed uh uh I I was toured the uh the the facility on Galaxy one time and I happened to be with the uh with the chief. We were walking by when the phone rang. He says, "Watch this."

His watch and it was a call in for, you know, service. Three and a half minutes later, three and a half minutes, the truck pulled out with 10 guys on it. People, it was phenomenal. Phenomenal. So, do a wonderful job and thank you for that. Yeah, thanks for that comment. All right, so with no other comments, we'll move on to our calendar of upcoming events. And our next city council meeting is Thursday, April 23rd at 700 p.m. Uh, I look for a motion to approve the calendar of upcoming events. Motion from council member Gindle, second from council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. Opposed. That carries. And that brings us to adjourn. Do we have a motion to adjurnn?

So moved. Motion from council member Heert, second from council member Grenall. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. I. Opposed. And we are adjourned. Thank you everyone.