Council - Regular Meeting

Goofy because the regular clock is all right we're on the air good evening everyone I'm going to call to order this council meeting for the city of Richfield it's October 27th at 7 30 p.m if you're able please rise and join us for the pledge of allegiance Thank you. Approval of the agenda.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have approved the agenda. Next, we'll move on to the approval of the minutes of the October 13th, 2026 City Council work session, the minutes of the October 13th, 2026 City Council regular meeting, and the minutes of the October 20th, 2026 Special City Council meeting.

I move approval of all three sets of minutes.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we'll take the vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have approved all three sets of minutes. Next we'll move on to presentations, and I'm pleased to welcome County Commissioner Debbie Gotell. So welcome, Commissioner.

Is the green light on? Excuse me. Is the green light on because we're having trouble hearing you?

Thank you so much, Commissioner Gotell. Is there anybody that has anything they want to bring up? I will say I'm really thrilled with the youth stabilization centers. That has been a need that I've heard about for many, many years, and parents talking about that they would like treatment for their children, but they're having to go to Fargo or someplace that's, Hours and hours away. Yes.

I'm glad we're making this first step because that needs to happen. We just had a work session on Penn Avenue and I was pleased to see in your presentation that you were talking about cost participation. one of the things we did some quick math, some of the staff figured out that if we have to contribute the 7 million from Penn Avenue over the last four County roads, including Penn Avenue, we will have put in 45.5 million in 13 years towards County roads. And I know you've been an advocate for changing the cost participation program. And so we're hoping that maybe that can be implemented befor

Well, thank you for that advocacy because I know we've been advocating at the legislature and we're able to make some changes. So I'm hoping it'll be timely so it pays off. We're fine with helping other cities, but it would be nice if it paid off for our taxpayers for Penn Avenue as well. Thank you. Other questions or comments? Council Member Hayford-Aleary.

I just wanted to say generally on the cost participation policy, I agree with the mayor and it was I think we're happy with the direction of where things are going, and we're very thankful for your advocacy for it. The timing issue of the possibility of this only applying to projects after PAN was new to us, and I just learned about that tonight.

But I did also just want to say it was encouraging to hear your thoughts about that very real issue of that some communities can't afford to do their share. Richfield, despite its modest tax base, has prioritized this, but that has come at the expense of some other things, and what parks need a lot of money. Yeah.

So I appreciate that consideration. I also just want to say on the design process to somebody who's a real nerd about the exact way streets are designed and has been an advocate for walking and biking safely, how much things have improved with the county. I first got really involved in a Richfield campaign for 66th Street, and I'm very proud of what was built with 66th Street. But the county staff, city staff relationship, at least in my observer as a citizen advocate, was a lot more tense then. I've been really impressed with the county staff on this project. I will say even One of your staff

And it looks like somebody in the audience has a question. Can they talk to you out in the hall?

Okay, and Councilmember Coleman-Woods, go ahead.

Thank you, Commissioner Gotella, for your work on the Hennepin County Child Well-Being Committee. I also am hopeful and I'm wishing for a direct advocacy direct appropriation for organizations like that are helping kids who are aging out of foster care. So I'm looking forward to all the work that you're doing. Thank you for your help.

Council Member Burke, oh, I thought you were raising your hand.

So I would also echo the thank you, because I know you do a lot at the county level for health care and food and social services, and these have been tough times for that. And I know you've been working tirelessly to safeguard all of our residents and to make sure that we keep those systems in place. So I just wanted to say thank you.

All right. Well, thank you so much. And I know there's somebody that wants to talk to you after open forum. So if you're willing to hang around.

All right. Thank you so much. Good night. Good night. So we're going to move on to open forum. And I have one person that is asked to speak. And if you would come up to, I'll call you up and you'll, if you could state your name and city of residence and, And then you'll have three minutes to address the council. I'll hold up a yellow card when you have 30 seconds left. And the red card when your time is up. If you ask questions, the city manager will provide answers via email or at the next council meeting. And we appreciate you taking your time to share your thoughts with us. So the person th

So is there anyone else that wishes to speak? We usually don't do a back and forth, but we can reach out to you if we have questions. Yeah.

All right. Thank you for speaking. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak for open forum? All right. Anyone else for open forum? Last call. Commissioner Gotel is kind enough to be waiting in the lobby if anybody wishes to speak with her as well if you have questions. So next we're going to move on with our additional presentations from our commissions. So I would like to welcome Chair Tessa Johansson from the Community Services Commission. Thank you.

Do we have any questions or comments? I just want to say thank you. I was listening as you were listing off all of those things, like the Natural Resources Plan, the Climate Action Plan, the Parks Master Plan. In addition to all the normal business that you have, it just seems like you've done a lot of heavy lifting this year. So thank you so much to you and all the commissioners.

Next, we would like to welcome the chair of the Arts Commission, Eric Paganek.

And do you have a slide presentation you want us to put up?

Thank you so much. Any questions or comments? Council Member Burke.

I really like the Richfield Public Art Tour. I like that map. And I just want to thank everything that you're all doing. It's important to bring art and inspiration to the city wherever you are in the city. Looking at the map, I'm realizing that West Richfield is looking pretty lonely as far as art, and I highly encourage efforts to bring some art to the West End. We appreciate art, too. So hopefully you can bring some out to us.

Comments, questions? Council Member Christensen? Yeah, it's been so fun working with everybody in that group because they have regular lives. They have full-time jobs. They have kids. They have families. But they put forth their efforts so valiantly and so creatively in making our lives just a little bit easier through and taking away our pressures of our life through the arts that they do. So it's been fun working with them.

Thank you, Sharon. And I would say, I just am always excited to see all the things that you're doing. Cause every time I go to a community event, there's the arts commission. So it's been, it's just fun to see you all. I'm very excited about the artist directory. So if somebody is listening and they're an artist, how would they go about becoming part of that directory?

All right, that's fabulous. And you mentioned the Great Pumpkin Giveaway, and so we'll be back at the next meeting giving the winners their prizes for that. We thought since the meeting was delayed tonight, we didn't want to have the kids up too late, but we're going to be doing it in November. No, we won't tell who won. All right, any other comments or questions? Thank you again.

Next, we'll move on to the consent calendar, and I'll turn it over to City Manager Rodriguez.

Is there a motion to accept these items?

Second. So I move to second it. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we've adopted the items on the consent calendar. Next, we'll be moving on to a public hearing, and I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Coleman-Woods. Thank you, Mayor.

The item up for consideration here is to consider the second reading and hold a public hearing for an ordinance amendment to the Richfield City Code Appendix D. the fee schedule related to building, planning, and zoning fees. City staff annually review fees to determine if change charges for permits and services are appropriate. Staff want to ensure the costs of issuance for fees and permits reflect the staff time and costs related to performing the services associated with those fees. Staff also work to ensure that costs for city services are in line with our peer communities. they're not exc

And is there a motion to open the public hearing?

Aye. All opposed? No. The public hearing is open. Great. And then any resident wishing to participate in the public hearing, please proceed to the podium one at a time. and provide your name and address prior to your comment. Council will hear your comment if you would like staff to follow up. Please include your name and phone number or email on the sign-in document located at the podium. To ensure everyone has time to speak, each comment will be limited to three minutes in length. And as a reminder to residents, the public hearing is a time for council to listen but not respond. And if quest

So is there anyone who wishes to speak at the public hearing? I'm not seeing anybody coming forward to speak at the public hearing. So is there a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? The public hearing is closed, so now we'll move on to the second part of the recommended actions. Do we have a motion for that?

Okay, so it's been moved and seconded to approve the attached transitory ordinance amendments to the Richfield City Code Appendix D. related to building, planning, zoning, and fees. Are there any comments or questions? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we've approved the transitory ordinance. So next we move on to the third part of our recommended actions.

I move to approve the resolution authorizing summary publication of said ordinance. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have approved all of those changes. And I want to thank the staff for the time they took to update everything. Because I know we've had discussions. This was like the third or fourth time we've seen all of this. So it was good to go through it. Next, we'll move on to item 11A. And I'll turn that over to Council Member Burke.

Thank you, Mayor. So the item for consideration is consider approval second reading and summary publication of an ordinance amending sections 4.05, 5.04, 5.05, 5.10, 5.12, And 5.15 Of the Richfield city charter related to elections and petition requirements. Charter commission is recommending amendments to several sections of the Richfield city charter related to election petitions. The proposed amendments would align the charter with petition form and content requirements established in and reorganized the Charter's petition requirements to make them easier for residents to use and for city s

So I will move to consider approval of the second reading. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Oh, go ahead.

We need to include authorizing summary publication as well. Thank you.

Okay, so would you add that to your motion?

We can do a second motion. Do this one first and then do a motion to authorize summary publication. That also works.

Okay, so right now before us we have the motion to approve the second reading and summary publication of an ordinance.

Okay, so then the motion before us is to approve the second reading of an ordinance amending section, those five sections, or six sections rather, of this Richfield City Charter related to elections and petition requirements.

I move to approve the second motion of the summary publication of the ordinance amending.

Okay, so let's vote on the first one, and then we'll take your motion there. So we're voting on amending sections 4.05, 5.04, 5.05, 5.10, 5.12, and 5.15. Is there any further discussion on that? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? Aye. All right, we've passed that. Now we have the motion on the floor from Councilmember Coleman-Woods for summary publication of the ordinance.

It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we've passed that as well. And I want to thank the Charter Commission because I know this was a lot of work and I appreciate it. Moving on to item 12A, I'll turn that over to Council Member Hayford O'Leary.

Thank you, Mayor. This item is to consider a resolution authorizing the closure of the Shops at Lindale Municipal Liquor Store. Staff recommends the closure of the Shops at Lindale Liquor Store effective December 31, 2026. The recommendation is supported by several factors. First, the Shops at Lindale Store had operating losses for 19 consecutive years. averaging $51,000 in annual losses from 2007 through 2023. Second, the store's recent and projected financial performance indicates a continued deterioration in operating results. The net loss increased from $200,973 in 2024 to $266,200 in 2025

One thing that was brought to our attention is that there will be efforts made to help staff who are going to be no longer have employment with the store, and I appreciate the staff's efforts to help them out with that. Like you mentioned, it's a dramatic move, dramatic, but I appreciate the efforts that have been done to try to keep the store viable, but change is necessary, and hopefully the best thing can be done for the staff that are there. So thank you for those efforts.

Any other questions? All right. Do you want to make a motion?

Yep, I will move that we approve a resolution authorizing the closure of the shops at Lindale Municipal Liquor Store. I'll second that motion.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there discussion? Council Member Hafer-Leary.

I just want to echo the comments by Council Member Burke of gratitude of the careful planning that went into this and the efforts to reduce the impact on staff. And just a thank you to the staff who served as well at the liquor store. We don't ever like to be in this position. But I think it's ultimately a reminder that the purpose of these liquor stores, first and foremost, is to generate money for our parks and for our community needs. And we absolutely need to put that first. So I regret the negative impacts because there are some negative impacts here, but I think this is a net positive fo

Other comments or questions? I would echo what's already been said by my colleagues. Also, I want to thank the staff for splitting it out by store, because I think over the years, the stores that were performing and making more of a profit kind of were subsidizing this one, and it wasn't so apparent that we had an issue. And then when we started separating it out, it became very clear that we needed to do something about this. So I appreciate the fact that you pointed that out. As Council Member Hayford-O'Leary said, there's a lot of detail in the staff report, so anybody that's interested can

Thank you, Mayor. This is an item for consideration as to consider a resolution providing for the sale of $3,960,000 general obligation sales tax revenue bonds series 2026A. The series 2026A bonds will finance the improvements to the Veterans Park complex project. Does the staff have any recommendations, comments? We're available for questions. All right. By motion then, I'd like to approve the attached resolution providing this for the sale of $3,960,000 general obligation sales tax revenue bond series 2026A. Is there a motion?

So you've made the motion. Is there a second?

Council Member Coleman would second it. Second it. All right. Any comments, questions? I did appreciate the historical context of how we've been paying for things over the years, so that would be something else I would point people to. The careful planning to spread out the debt so that we can get the most money for the bonds that we sell, we appreciate that. And so the ones that are coming up are now for the Veterans Park complex, so I look forward to seeing what happens there. Any further discussion or questions? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have approved the resolu

Thank you, Mayor. Excuse me. The item for consideration is the consideration of the youth appointment, the appointment of youth commissioners to various commissions. Youth members serve one-year terms on city advisory boards and commissions, with current terms expiring August 31st through 2027. And the City Manager's Office recruits youth applicants on an ongoing basis to fill vacancies. For recruitment, the City shares information on its website, Facebook page, and reaches out to local high schools. The City Manager's Office forwards all applications to the City for review and review. The rec

Okay, it's been moved by Commissioner Coleman-Woods to approve the appointments and seconded by Councilmember Hayford-Leary. Is there any discussion? I'm glad to see that we're getting more youth coming forward, and I think we have a couple more vacancies, but it's really great to see that Rodrigo and Miranda have stepped up, so thank you. Any other discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we've approved the new commissioners. All right, so moving on, we'll go to the city manager's reports. City Manager Rodriguez.

It is tied 2-2, top of the fifth. Oh, wow, okay. There we go. Thank you. Are there any questions for City Manager Rodriguez? All right, moving on to council discussion. You can either do hats off to hometown hits or council liaison reports. Council Member Burke.

I just wanted to share generalized excitement about Halloween. I feel like many things have gotten worse in society since COVID, but one thing that's gotten better is people's Halloween decorations. People are putting out these big skeletons. They're doing all kinds of crazy stuff, and I'm kind of boring. I just do the two jack-o'-lanterns, but I do love seeing all that stuff around. I think this point has been made to me. It's not my own idea, but... I love the idea that Halloween is like the neighborhood or the urbanist holiday because it's parents and kids like walking door to door, interac

Yes, I just wanted to remind the public and everyone that this Saturday, along with being Halloween, it is the last outdoor farmer's market for this season. And next weekend after that, the 7th and 8th, I believe the dates are, that Saturday and Sunday, is the fall boutique at the community center. And then following that weekend, Will be the start of the indoor farmers market at the community center All right, thank you councilmember coleman woods Thank you mayor.

I am looking forward to this saturday. Yes because of the the annual holiday, it's not even a holiday. I think it's a halloween And the week weekend of dia de los muertos if you are out on saturday, there is a amazing event going on on 70th and 18th, and it is between 12 and 10 p.m. They're having food trucks, and it looks like costumes, and this is an annual event, the Rikers Ladies Present. It is for kids who even are dedicated for special, there's some things dedicated for special needs, And it's open to everyone. Costume contests for adults, teens, kids, and animals. And the best decorated

All right, thank you. I wanted to give a shout out to all the election judges and the election staff and everybody that's been working hard at early voting. They did a quick turnaround time tonight. Voting was open until 7 p.m., and then we're now having a council meeting that started at 7.30, so thank you for all of that. Early voting continues here at the Municipal Center, 6700 Portland Avenue South. And it's Monday through Friday from 8 to 4.30, and it will be going on through November 2nd. There's also voting on Saturday, October, oh, we're past that already. Let's see, Saturday, October 3

Wow, thank you. And do we have kind of a sort of a total cumulative at this point?

Over 3,000. All right, awesome. Thank you.

Just as a reminder, November 1st, 2 a.m., Set your clocks back.

All right. Also, we have had two wonderful reports from our commissions, and we'll be having more coming up shortly. If you want to be part of one of those commissions, the application period is still open through Friday, so if you want to turn in an application, we're still taking them. We've been taking them all month, and I'm hoping we get a few more. Last year, we had a rush right at the end of the month So did you want to add something, City Manager Rodriguez? Oh, okay. So we're getting reports. Okay. All right. Next, you had mentioned about the City Manager's search, and there's going to

I'll move to adjourn the meeting. Seconded.

It's been moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we stand adjourned. Thank you.