City Council - Regular Meeting

Stop. As soon as you're ready. Love it. But we need a different bag. Thank you so much. Welcome, everyone, to our St. Paul City Council meeting. We're glad you could join us today. We invite everyone to join us in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Have allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, And we are also going to do a roll call because we went right into it. That was me. Johnson.

And I know that we are pulling items 16, 30, and 31 for separate consideration. Is there anything else to come off of consent? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Vice President Yang for the balance of the consent agenda. All in favor, say aye.

Take a motion from Ms. Coleman for suspension of the rules to consider item 26-1544. An item from the city attorney's office. All in favor of suspending the rules, please say aye.

And this is sort of late-breaking legislation. the federal government, and it was something we needed to get on the agenda somewhat quickly. So I'm grateful to my colleagues for being willing to bring it under suspension. I will move approval. Is there any discussion of the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye.

Ms. Kim. Wonderful. I just pulled this to get a greater transparency and ask some questions. So I'd like to invite D.C. Hallstrom. Sorry if I got your rank wrong. D.C. Hallstrom, come on up. Perfect. So really I put them in the email, so hopefully you came prepared. But we sort of had three general questions around this grant application. One, what is sort of the scope of work? What are we applying for? And then two, what is the proposed budget?

Okay, and so is that for staff that man the drone? Is that to purchase additional drones? Can you speak a little bit more specifically around where those dollars are going?

Okay. That sounds good. The last question that I had is it appeared that the application period has now passed. This resolution is before council today. Can you speak a little bit about the timing? Is there presently an application in? Did we receive an extension and we're going to be applying after the passage of this resolution?

Okay. Wonderful. I think just one additional question. What kind of data contract that is connected to the footage that we might be collecting from the drone? Do we have a current contract that would be managing or maintaining any of the information collected through the drone program?

Okay, that sounds good. And I did lie, I have one more question. In order for the council to sort of fully consider, even though the application has been submitted, but to approve the... I guess, authorizing you to apply for the funds. Does a week layover change anything in terms of the present status of the application? It doesn't sound like it, since it sounds like we've already submitted it on time.

I think I saw Vice President Yang. Thank you, Council President. I want to say thank you to you, Council Member Kim, for your questions. And thank you so much for coming and answering your questions, too. I know it was probably on very short notice. It absolutely was for me. I just want to be really transparent with folks that I appreciate that question, Council Member Kim, about just what are the impacts of a one-week layover? Do we have flexibility to be able to to consider that, because I am interested in a layover. I had a couple of community members who reached out to me just maybe a few

Okay, thank you. Well, Council President, I would just wrap up my thoughts with if we were to take a vote on this, I wouldn't be ready to vote on it because I do have more questions that I want to be able to have a deeper dive with our police department about. I really appreciate folks who've reached out to us, especially those who've expressed their concerns around the contract with Sky Deal and One thing I do want to point out is, again, that process that I mentioned, which took place maybe a year or two ago. And when that did happen, we didn't, I just don't recall there being any sort of op

I was looking this way. I'm not sure what order people's hands were. I think I'll go Ms. Johnson, Ms. Jost, Ms. Coleman. Ms. Johnson.

Thank you. And thank you, Chief Holstrom. I just had a question about the grants, everything about the scope. Is there any part of the grant that we're applying for that's new costs that the city would incur? So is this like offsetting the costs that the city already incurs by seeking out additional resources to the federal government? Or is this costs that we are? funding that we're trying to offset anything that we would normally pay at the city, or is this a grant that we're receiving to expand from what we're already paying?

Thanks, Ms. Coleman. I think I saw Ms. Bowie and then Ms. Kim.

Thanks, Ms. Bowie. I think I saw Ms. Kim.

Yeah, I really appreciate it. I'll start by saying that if we vote on it today or if we support a layover next week, I'm not planning on supporting our application of this contract for the reasons that my astute colleague, Councilmember Coleman, mentioned. To speak directly to the question that I received from Councilmember Joe as part of it was that it was flagged for me on Monday evening. I sent an email. at 6.21 p.m. after I had messaged our public safety chair and vice chair to see if anyone knew anything about this. And so I didn't have information to share with my colleagues because this

Thank you, Ms. Kim. It doesn't look like there's further discussion. I will just say, first of all, thank you to Ms. Kim for pulling this off of consent so we could discuss it. I think it is really important to have these conversations publicly We are in the midst of a conversation about surveillance, about technology, and most importantly, about our data and about transparency. So I'm really grateful that we're having this conversation. I will support the motion for a one-week layover as well. I agree with Councilmember Bowie. I think it's really important that we understand each of these tec

Is there any way for people to, I mean, the questions I hear from people are, is there a drone outside my window? Is it following me? Am I being surveilled? Is there a way for people to know when a drone is operational, where they go, when they've been out? Do we have any kind of transparency around that?

Thank you. And then I think my last question for now, and then I will likely have more in between. I know when you presented a few months ago, and as Vice President Yang mentioned, we did, I know, have a public conversation about our drone policy when it was first adopted. Is that policy, is that something that you can resend to all of us and that we can have attached to the record next week? How our drones are used, what our guardrails are?

I think that would be really helpful. Again, I want to echo my colleagues. Thanks to you for coming. Again, Ms. Kim, thank you so much for pulling this. I look forward to the continued conversation. And with that, it sounds like the motion is for a one-week layover. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye.

It is always fun to get to welcome new staff. So this is a hard pivot. Sorry. So with this, we will be appointing some new colleagues. So we're going to do the resolution first, and then we'll do the swearings in. I will make a motion for approval. And I will start the discussion by just saying how much I have already enjoyed. Well, I've been working with Ms. Imne for quite a while, but I'm excited about her new position. And it has just been an absolute delight to work with Ms. Dennis and Mr. Evans over the last couple days and months, respectively, and can't wait to continue that work. So th

Yeah, I just want to just share that I also am very excited to have Ms. Dennis and Mr. Evans as colleagues, and hopefully soon Prince, but also looking into the process and just the work that has been already put in by both. I mean, coming into the reparations work, Mr. Evans had to basically plan it. with the partnership with the community, a massive tour with our Home Report contractors. But then his first week, Dennis basically came in and we're like, we need a press release and we need all of our social medias. And oh yeah, you also have to run the entire intercommunications role for the c

Thank you, Ms. Johnson. In the Ward 2 office, we call it non-boarding. Glad you could experience that. Mr. Wilms.

Thank you, Mr. Wilms. Any further discussion of the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Seven in favor, none opposed. The resolution is adopted. First will be Ms. Dennis. Come on up. And since Ms. Dennis is our communications lead and therefore can't take a picture of herself getting sworn in...

Congratulations. And while Ms. Zimney is coming up with her guests, I want to acknowledge that there are family and friends of all of our inductees, or swearing-in-ees, appointees, whatever, today. And we thank you as well, because we know that this takes a village and takes a team. And we appreciate your letting your family members and friends be part of our team.

Congratulations to you and to all three of you. Can't wait to continue working together.

Awesome, thank you. While my illustrious intern, JC, takes the stand, is the computer on and ready to rock? Does it look good? Awesome. We had a fabulous inaugural State of the Youth. And therefore, it is equally important that we get a staff report on how it went. Some of my colleagues were able to make it. For those that couldn't, I'm not going to say you missed out, but you mostly missed out. And I'm sure for good reasons. But next year, the bar will be even higher. One of the best number one feedback we received was that we need a bigger room. because it was standing room only, and it spil

Thank you, JC, for this amazing report. I think we have a resolution coming in just a moment that is going to follow up on anything I might say and definitely exceed it. I also want to thank you, Ms. Kim, for your leadership in bringing our first annual State of the Youth Address to us. Looking forward to future years. I leave the floor to you, Ms. Kim. I know there isn't a formal motion, but do you want to have any? Other words?

I don't have any other words. I just remain in awe. JC not only graduated from high school, had his grad party, was the star in Circus Juventus whimsy, and was doing two shows a day for a while. and also managed to pull off an incredibly successful state of our youth address. I had a moment where I was stressed out about getting kids to think this was cool. And then I was stressed out about getting kids, like people in the room, to listen to the powerful speeches that we had. And I do mean it. The best feedback we got was that we just need a bigger room next year. So I'm looking forward to wor

With that, maybe we should segue to item 30.

Jacey's very surprised, which is a good thing. Surprise! I will say this won't happen every year, but this is just because of how wonderful you are, but also just how great you did. I'm going to do the annoying thing and read this under the record because there are a lot of things that I think all of you should know about Jacey. Whereas J.C. Johnson Becker was born and raised in St. Paul two and a half weeks early and has always been in a hurry. J.C. is described as a voracious reader. He learned his alphabet before he was two years old but stubbornly did not want to learn X, Y, Z and was once

With that, I make a motion for approval.

There is a motion for approval. Is there any discussion of the motion? Vice President Yang.

Thank you, Council President. That was very heartfelt. JC, I want to say congratulations to you. And this is so well deserving in terms of the resolution and the day being dedicated to you. I want to commend you, along with Council Member Kim, for your partnership with our incredible Right Track staff members and even the youths who were part of Sprocket. Because, you know, what I saw from the event, being there myself and just even seeing the reflections that, Jason, you shared with us earlier, is that there truly was that partnership and intersection that you both created. And it was really

Thank you, Vice President. Other discussion of the motion? Seeing none, I will just... echo everything Vice President Yang just said and Ms. Kim said. We have been honored to get to work with you and can't wait to keep doing it. And I didn't know this was a surprise.

So I hope that I didn't keep referring to this resolution that was coming and giving you the heads up.

But you looked surprised. And also, just want to acknowledge that you also have, it looks like, family and friends here. And grateful to all of you for taking time. And clearly, you have had amazing love and support around you for a long time, including right now. So really grateful that you all could be here for this special moment. With that, all in favor say aye. Aye.

OK, now this is a real hard pivot. We are moving on to our public hearing section of our agenda. If you are here for a public hearing, when your item is called, we ask you to please, if you want to testify, come on up. Stand in between the two microphones. You don't need to touch them or move them or adjust them. You can stand up straight. They'll pick you up just fine. You'll have two minutes to testify. We ask that you start with your name and where you're coming from, and that when you're done, you sign in on either of the two sign-in sheets. There's a clock right in front of you to help yo

This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak to this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Coleman to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye.

Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Jost to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye.

This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak to this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Bui to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye.

This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak to this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Johnson to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye.

This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak to this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Vice President Yang to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye. Aye.

This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak to this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Kim to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye.

Great. Thanks, Ms. Mormont. Let's go to Ms. Johnson.

Thank you, Council President, and thanks, Ms. Moorman. And just to confirm then that right now, since we did the performance inspection, the performance inspection found that the city conducted found that we were at about 5% of completion for repairs. Okay, and then also from previous, if I'm remembering from the record correctly, the estimated time that the owner is looking at is how many months? Have they shared?

OK. And then just to clarify, so the $5,000 is forfeited. And what is the remaining balance of the performance?

Okay, so we're down to 10 with 2,500 as the increment monthly.

Okay, so how much would the monthly withdrawal be to align with the 180-day timeline? What would be the... Okay.

It's OK. So what I would be asking my colleagues for is actually for the support that I have no qualms about the forfeiture. I do have a slight concern about the incremental forfeiture not aligned with the 180 days that we've already allotted for. And so my recommendation would be, actually, my amendment to the resolution would be to move forward the forfeiture, but the $2,500 forfeiture monthly to me My intent would be to align it with whatever dollar amount is allocated to ensure that it aligns with 180 days. That would actually be, unless I'm mistaken, every 45 days.

OK, so that would be my recommendation, in part because I think to align with the time that we've already given, I think the deterring from that time frame that we've already expected seems a little inconsistent to me. So that would be my recommendation.

OK, so to forfeit the current performance. I want to make sure I'm stating the resolution, the motion. Forfeit the current performance deposit. And is that $5,000? Or the 10,000?

So to forfeit the remaining 10,000 every 45 days at an amount of 25. Until the work is complete. OK. Thank you, Ms. Johnson. Thank you, everyone, for bearing with me. Any discussion of the motion?

Ms. Vice President Yates. Thank you, Council President. I just wanted to share my support for the motion. All right.

Seeing no further discussion, all in favor say aye.

Is there anything to be taken separately, Ms. Mormont?

Thanks, Ms. Mormond. We'll hold the public hearing in a moment. But before that, as you mentioned, it's not usual to have the city do an interior abatement. I'm curious, you mentioned just now the circumstances that led to that, but what are the formal circumstances that need to be in place for us to make the decision to actually go into someone's home, perform work, and then assess them for the cost?

I was going to ask my next question. So this was done with the consent of the property owner? Yes, absolutely. And that allowed her to stay in the home, which was her desire. OK. I want to preview the public hearing by saying that my gut instinct is that it would be best to send this back to legislative hearing to actually let you sort through the facts of the case rather than doing that here. But we will go ahead and hold the public hearing. So thank you, Ms. Mormond. Sorry. Any other questions for Ms. Mormond?

We will now hold the public hearing. So if you're here to testify on this item, please come on up. And just start with your name, where you're coming from, and please focus on what your ask would be of the council.

Thank you so much. Make sure to sign in. Is there anyone else here to speak on this item? Welcome up.

Thank you very much. And make sure to sign in. Is there anyone else here to speak on this item? All right, I want to, first of all, extend my condolences to both of you on the loss of your mother and your aunt. Thank you so much for coming in. I'm so sorry that we're having this conversation in these circumstances. I'm going to move to close the public hearing. All in favor, say aye.

I'm going to, so hearing everything that you've said, it sounds like there are some serious factual disputes about what happened and didn't happen. And to the request that you've both made, The city council does have a process for looking into these things and investigating them. And that process is exactly the legislative hearing that Ms. Moorman was referring to earlier. So I'm really glad that you're both here and that you can make the connection with her. My motion is going to be to refer this back to legislative hearings. So I would ask that you work with Ms. Moorman, respond to her reque

I will make that motion. Is there any discussion of the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye.

All right. Is there anything else to come before us for separate consideration? In that case, we will hold a public hearing on the rest of the legislative hearing items. If there's anyone here to testify on items 41 through 51, now is your public hearing. Please come on up. Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Vice President Yang to close the public hearings and adopt the recommendations of the legislative hearing officer, along with any amendations or recommendations, et cetera. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed?

All right. With that, we are at the end of our agenda. This is the time for good news and or news from the wards. Looking to my colleagues, Vice President.

Council President, I wanted to share about a back-to-school backpack giveaway happening in the Eastside. It's on September 10th, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and being hosted by Long American Partnership and JPMorgan Chase. They'll be giving away 200 backpacks filled with supplies such as notebooks, pens, pencils, and other school essentials. It's a first-come, first-served basis, and children must be present to receive a backpack. It's a limit of one backpack per child. It will be located at the Hmong American Partnership Building on 1075 Arcade Street.

Other news? Okay. It doesn't look like it. And I didn't even have time to check to see if I had news, so that's fine. All right. With that, we are at the end of a busy day and a full agenda. Thanks to all. We are adjourned.