City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening, everyone. I am Mayor Shelley Carlson. Tonight is February 9th, 2026 and it's 5:30 p.m. The Morhead City Council welcomes public input on issues listed on the agenda over or of general community interest time and council permitting. Speakers will be limited to three minutes each. If you would like to address the council during the meeting, you will need to fill out a form provided by our city clerk and we will call you up during the citizens to address a council item on the agenda. You'll need to state your name and if you are a Morhead resident. If comments were submitted to the clerk prior to the meeting via email or phone, those comments will be entered into our record. For more information on participation, please visit the council meetings page on the city of Morhead website at morheadm.gov. We the Morhead city council collectively and with gratitude acknowledge the sacred land the city of Morhead is built upon. We acknowledge the people who have resided here for generations of recognize that the spirit of the Dakota Aju Mati and all indigenous communities communities permeate this land. With that, could I get a roll call, please?

Ryan Nelson here. Nicole Matson here. Heather Nisser here. Emily Moore here. Deb White here. Lisa Borggan. Sebastian McDougall here. Chuck Hendrickson here. Mayor Shelley Carlson here. And for those who are able, please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

Right. And city manager Molly, do we have any agenda amendments? Yes, Mayor. We have two amendments here. Under new business, we have a request from council members White, Moore, and Madson to discuss responses or response to any future ICE actions in Morehead. And second, uh we have an update to resolution 8A, mayor council appointments to include uh CM AMD's appointment to the Morehead Economic Development Authority for W. Okay. All right. with those uh two amendments. Then uh do I have order to or a motion to approve the agenda? So move Matson. Second. Nissa Meyer. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, uh roll call vote, please.

Matson, yes. Nissa Meyer, yes. Moore, yes. White, yes. McDougall, I. Hendrickson, yes. Nelson, I. Right, that motion carries. Uh, do I have a motion for the consent agenda? So move Nissa Meyer. Second. Madson. Motion on second. Any discussion? Seeing none, uh, roll call vote, please. Nissa Meyer, yes. Hendrickson, yes. Nelson, I. Moore, yes. McDougall, I. Borggan. White. Yes. And Matson.

And Matson. And that motion carries. Uh, moving on to recognitions and presentations. Uh, the first one is our more heart recognition. I'll turn this over to Miss Lisa Bod. Thank you, Mayor Carlson, members of the city council. I'm pre um providing you information on the Morart award that we are making tonight. And the honore is Sydney Kreps who is the owner of more than words bookstore. uh she helped to organize a fundraiser for food assistance when food assistance was interrupted in November 2025 through her business. The successful fundraiser raised over $3,000 with all of the proceeds going to hunger relief efforts when it was needed most in our community. She was nominated by Samantha Gust. and Samantha wrote in the nomination, "This action demonstrates a local business using its platform to meet community needs in a very tangible way. The fundraiser was impactful and focused on supporting residents who rely on consistent access to food." So with that, the city of Morehead um thanks Sydney for her contribution to Morehead and her dedication and motivation to improving the lives of others makes Morehead a better and more supportive place. So with that, Mayor Carlson, would you like to present the More Heart Award? Sydney [applause] Thank you so much. Um, this was such a lovely surprise. Um, as Lisa said, I'm Sydney Kreps. I'm the owner of More Than Words. We are just right across the road here in Morehead. Uh, we're an independent bookstore. I've been open for a little over two years. And I just really could not be more grateful to be

part of the Morehead small business community. As everyone in this room knows, the genuine support that Morehead has for the city, for its small businesses is truly unparalleled. And we've been lucky enough to feel that um since day one at the bookstore. Um the donation project that we did for the Great Plains Food Bank, uh as was said, kind of came to be during the government shutdown when SNAP benefits and things like that weren't being distributed the way we expected. And I just really felt um like I wanted the bookstore to be able to do something, however small, to help support those in our community who needed that assistance during that time. Um so ultimately we decided we could best do that by raising some money and we put together these fundraising shelves where 100% of the proceeds from the books sold on those shelves uh was donated to the Great Plains Food Bank. And initially we filled those shelves mainly from books from my home. [laughter] And so I had thought that this would be, you know, a smaller drop in the bucket donation, but at least something that we could do. And I was blown away by the immediate, um, overwhelming support from the community. On the very first day that we had announced it, there were people at the door right when we opened with bags and boxes of their own books, uh, asking if they could donate those to the shelves, which we did not ask for. So that was just so uplifting and incredible to see and such a testament to Morehead. Um, and because of all of those donations, we actually are still able to continue filling those shelves and raising that money. Um, within those first three days of the fundraiser, we raised and donated a little around $1,500. And now, actually, as of today, we've raised and donated over $5,000 to the Great Plains Food Bank. And we still have the shelves up. We're still doing it. Um, and that really would not have been possible at all without the support from the community. Uh, I think it's just a real testament to a community in

action and to what Morehead looks like in action and that's been a real light um during these last few months. So, I just want to say thank you again for recognizing what was really a community effort. Um, thank you to everyone who either brought in their own books or bought books from those shelves. And obviously a huge thank you to Great Plains Food Bank and all of our other local food banks for the tireless and urgent work that they do every day um to help feed our community. So, thank you so much. [applause] Well, congratulations, Sydney. And also, um, we're so grateful to have your business here in the city of Morehead. I've been into your bookstore a number of times. Um spent way more than my allowance for that day of my book allowance. [laughter] So because you have such incredible um not just books but you have so many other great things and to be able to utilize that platform as a business local business to help others um really shows how much you care. So thank you so much for doing that and thank you for just making Morehead such a great place to live, work and play. Uh second uh next on the agenda I should say um is a presentation um of our 2025 development report and I'll turn it over to Miss Christy Lasheski.

Thank you Madame Mayor. Members of the council, 2025 marked Morehead's 150th anniversary since being incorporated as a city. Uh there are many projects and accomplishments within the 2025 development report. Um but I wanted to come with you today uh with a few highlights. Uh the first being that the planning commission and city council continued their work to modernize the city's development code, implementing several amendments based on feedback and goals outlined in the Onward Morehead comprehensive plan. Um 2025 saw over a thousand building permits issued with evaluation of more than $113 million. We have significant projects happening in downtown including doop the 650 center avenue mixeduse building as well as the 14 14th and main apartments. We also saw work begin on the remodeling of city hall and public engagement on the new public plaza and a mix of commercial and industrial both new and remodeling projects for both new and existing businesses throughout the community. In addition to the various 150th anniversary events, the Morehead Airport Florence Kling and Smith Field also celebrated its 30th anniversary with a very well attended flyin back in September. So 2025 was one of 150 years um since Morehead officially became a city. We're seeing projects and investments that will impact the community for many years. made possible with the support of the city council, our local businesses, builders, and design and construction professionals who bring these projects to life. I also want to acknowledge the work that the community did through the Onward Morehead comprehensive plan where there was five big ideas that we hope permeate this report, including investing in downtown, creating great experiences, connecting neighborhoods, fostering sustainability, and supporting and celebrating businesses. these five big ideas as well as other strategies in the plan provide us direction of what the community wanted to see and we're

hoping that the highlights that people see in the plan um really show the impact that we're seeing in those areas. Um for anyone watching in the public, the full report has a lot of information in it um for everything 2025 and it is available on the city's homepage under the spotlight. Okay. I was actually just gonna I was thinking that there was a PowerPoint, but there's 46 slides, so I don't think we want to go through a 46 slide PowerPoint tonight because

I would if you want to. I mean, I kind of would, too, because there are some really phenomenal things in this development report um about the great things that we've been doing and that um five-year plan that we're implementing and we haven't deviated from it um to just continue to move forward and onward. Um it it it's a it's a fantastic report. So, um any other contra uh contributions, I guess, comments from council? Um, Council Member Nissa Meyer, then Council Member Madson.

Uh, thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I just want to thank uh you and your team uh for the work that you did to compile this. I thought it was a wonderful walk through history. Um, and I want to encourage residents out there who um want to see that 46 slide deck um to find it in the full packet. And so the full packet, if you go out and Google um city of Morehead um council meeting packets, it will come up with a meeting opportunity, but there's a on the left hand side. There we go. There's an arrow pointing down where folks can pick what sort of item they want to download. And it's the PDF packet that will have the full color um slides that we don't have time for tonight, but we're really really interesting um as a Morehead resident who is always eager to learn. So, I want to thank you for the work and also encourage residents to go out and take a peek because there is something for everybody to learn out there.

Council member Matson, thank you, Madame Mayor, and thank you, Christie. Um, lovely report. I don't know who was in charge of the graphic design, but it's beautiful. So, whoever whoever did that part, A+ shout out to Caleb.

Okay, great job, Caleb. Um, I do have a question or two and and I'm no worries. I'm sorry for springing these on you in real time and if you have to get back to me later that's fine. Um there was a a note about we have 117 buildable lots uh available for 2026 and we build about 111 houses. That was the 10-year average. So um how quickly do we get more lots online? like what is kind of I you know we have in here uh Prairie Parkway fourth edition preliminary plat preliminary and final plat. So those lots I assume are not counted in the 117 um and I don't remember how many there are but not another hundred I don't think in that. So I guess my question is how frequently do we have um more lots coming online and and how do we make sure we're not going to run out of of space to build stuff in the in the meantime?

Yeah, good question. Um the council throughout this year um probably as you said this packet as well as upcoming packets will be approving a number of items that will include um going out for bid for new infrastructure for new single family lots that will include Prairie Parkway third edition, fourth edition, as well as Partridge Creek. Um so we're hoping by, you know, this fall that we'll be bringing on another, you know, probably a little over a hundred lots um that would be incorporated then as buildable in next year's report. Thank you very much.

And I don't see any other questions. So, thank you again, uh, Christy and your team for putting that together and and everybody who contributed to that report. Um, moving on to the approval of the Jan January 26, 2026 meeting minutes. I have a motion to approve. Move to approve. More second. I have a motion and second. Any discussion? Seeing none, uh, roll call vote, please. Nelson. I Nissa Meyer. Yes. Matson. Yes. White. Yes. Moore. Yes. Hendrickson. Yes. McDougall. I.

All right. And that motion carries. And we do have one individual who would like to speak to the council tonight. Uh Daltton Swanson, if you want to come forward to the podium. Um when you get to the podium, you'll need to state your name if you are a resident of Morehead. And you will have three minutes on the timer here. When the timer goes to red, you will need to wrap it up and your three minutes will be have been completed. So, feel free to go ahead.

Thank you, Madame Mayor and council members. My name is Dalton Swanson. I've been a resident for all but three years of my 25 years of life here, and I approach all of you today as a concerned citizen regarding the issue of public safety in our community. Following the unjust and totally unnecessary murder of Renee Good and Alex Prey in Minneapolis, there has been great concern among the among the residents of Morehead with how we are to handle the reign of terror imposed on Minnesota by Donald Trump and his terrorist organization, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In addition to this chaos imposed on Minnesota with no justice in sight, there must be prophylactic measures taken by the communities of Minnesota to counter this reign of terror. In addition to economic strife, there is a great deal of sorrow and chaos within these communities. Many residents, including our black and brown colleagues in different communities, wake up in fear every day. Some of you may have friends, family, neighbors who call this great city home. Myself included. Almost every day, I receive texts, [gasps] calls, and footage in horror of the present reign of terror in this city. And many of my friends wake up wondering if this day will be their last. In addition to this economic slowdown caused by these ICE attacks, there is some sort some sort of resolution that could be made.

It is simply a question of legacy. Will Morehead stay silent and allow this reign of terror to continue and let it spill over into our fine community? Or will we join the many voices of other concerned council members, citizens, and residents such as those in Duth in St. Hall, Minneapolis, and beyond to put pressure on Governor Walls to issue the eviction moratorum to provide the relief necessary for victims of these ICE attacks, some of whom are as young as 5 years old, held in captivity for God knows how long. Now, it is simply a question of legacy. What will Morehead do? How will we respond in this moment in time? I yield the floor. Thank you.

Thank you. And just so folks are aware, uh, anybody who addresses the council during this item, um, it's not an opportunity for back and forth engagement. It's just an opportunity to have a statement read and, um, absorb by the council. So, moving on to uh our community development department. Um I will turn this item over to Mr. Ethan Junk. Thank you. And good evening, Mayor and City Council. Uh the two resolutions before you tonight are to approve a budget adjustment and related agreement with BWR Innovations to accept funding from the Minnesota Department of Commerce through their micro grids at community lifeline facilities grant program. Uh the grant program is intended to support micro grid demonstration projects uh at an important community facility. more specifically projects that utilize a local electricity source that may operate uh with the within the larger electric grid or in an isolated mode during a power outage. In coordination with BWR Innovations, the city of Morehead was awarded funding to install a hydrogen battery micro grid and telemetry system at city hall to provide a backup source of energy for the IT server room uh ensuring uninterrupted clean power at this location during the event of a power outage. This project does tie into goals 5.1 and 5.2 of the sustainability chapter of the onward Morehead comprehensive plan as we continue to evaluate infrastructure improvements through an environmental resiliency lens and promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through alternative energy sources. Uh so staff is recommending the approval of the budget adjustment and related uh agreement and myself and Joel Jorgensson uh who is kind of the brains behind this innovative technology are here to answer any additional questions you may have.

All right. Thank you Mr. Junk. Are there any questions from council related to this agenda item? Right. Um well seeing none I would be willing to entertain a motion to approve 10B Nelson. Second Nissa Meyer motion and second. Any discussion? Seeing none. Oh, council member Matson. Do we also need to approve 10 A? Oh yes. Thank you for catching that. Um well we'll go 10B since we're there. Um and then we'll go back to 10A. So um any discussion on 10B? Can I include them both in my motion? Does that make sense? Make that amendment. Yes.

Yeah, that's my amendment to include them both in the motion if that's okay with council member Nissa. Was that who seconded? Yep. It sounds great to take them together. Okay. Any discussion on 10 A and B? See none. Roll call vote, please. Matson, yes. Nelson, yes. Nissa Meyer, yes. Moore, yes. White, yes. Hendrickson, yes. McDougall, I.

Right. And those motions both carry. So, thank you. Um, I just want to thank staff for always being on the lookout for these opportunities to make us more energy efficient. Um, always seeking new and innovative ways to bring that into the fold of um, city business. Uh, and for doing the work because I know grants are a lot of work um, to go forth with them. So, and thank you, sir, for coming to be a part of it. Uh, city manager Molly. Well, yeah. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say thank you, Dr. Jorgensson, for sharing your great idea and your invent. I mean, this is just really incredible stuff. I almost maybe we down the road we can do a presentation unless there's something you'd like to share this evening. You're certainly welcome. [clears throat]

I'd love the opportunity. Can I interrupt you and have you step up to the microphone so all of our viewers, which there are tens of them um online can be able to hear what you um your project and what you're um offering to share with the city of Morehead. Sorry to interrupt, but

if I could by way of introduction, so Dr. Jorgensson here uh used to teach at NDSU, has done all kinds of incredible things in our community by way of uh innovations and and uh and ideas um that have that have made our communities better. It's a local technology. It's really interesting and really appreciate you reaching out and seeing Morehead uh for this uh great technology. I thank you and I and and Madame Mayor uh council uh community

st Thank you so much. What we really have is an amazing technology with the opportunity to work with the city of Morehead really on groundbreaking work. This was originally funded by the US Air Force Research Lab, the US Army Research Lab, and it's now br being brought to the first of its kind for the community resilience. Um, it's proven technology. The science is very sound. The patents are incredible and we're just thrilled beyond description, beyond what I can articulate for the opportunity to bring this with partnership in Morehead to uh bring this in the new construction with this new technology and really a new means of making Morehead the greenest, the most sustainable city in Minnesota and arguably in the United States. So, I thank you for the opportunity, your support and encouragement. Thank you so much.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I look forward to the demonstration at that point in time.

Right. Moving on to 10 C and I will turn this over to Miss Robin Houston. Thank you, Mayor Carlson and council members. Uh, Youthworks is requesting a conditional use permit tonight for a transitional housing shelter to provide um housing and support services for individuals 18 to 24 years old. Um, the property that they're um proposing is a former 30 bed assisted living facility on um Third Avenue South. The planning commission considered the request at their February 2nd meeting with one public comment in support of more housing for young adults and then two public comments um more questions about safety and security. The planning commission unanimously recommended approval with uh 10 conditions listed in your resolution in the packet. Uh, please let me know if you have any questions or we do have the applicant here if you would like to ask them individual questions as well.

Great. Thank you. Um, and I know that they're here. So, would you want to come up to the pro podium and just provide a little bit of an overview uh to the council about what uh you're proposing? Thank you.

Sounds good. Um, Mayor Carlson, uh, city commissioners, my name is Mark Hiners. I'm the executive director of Youthworks. We have reached our 40th year of existence and all of those years we focused on trying to make sure that young people in our communities have a safe place to belong and to be heard. So our mission is relatively simple and we have been providing transitional housing for most of those 40 years uh largely in North Dakota. However, we've been providing transitional housing in the Fargo Morehead area since 1991. And uh more specifically, we have uh eight beds of transitional housing that's available right now in Morehead that is in private apartments. And so our prop our our proposal is that we are looking to acquire the uh the property that is formerly uh known as Ecumen Evergreens. It will hold up to 30 individuals at any one point in time and it is transitional housing. So transitional housing meaning that it is really apartment living that has a time limit to it. So there's up to 18 months of a stay. Typically in our transitional housing programs we usually experience about a 6 to 8month stay. So the the biggest change is obvious which is this property is going from serving seniors to serving very very young adults. The uh interior use it will be the same. We're not looking at making major changes. the footprint, the density, uh parking configuration, what we expect for traffic, we actually do not expect to change at all. Um we will be providing individual case management, life skills support, uh housing navigation, uh services to support youth as they make that next step into full independence. And so in order to be eligible to be housed in this program, it's really a simple eligibility, and that's that they don't have a place to stay. Um nothing more than that. And we have young people that we served, we have served that will come from all

different walks of life and all sorts of different life circumstances. And so it's not necessarily easy to explain that except that they're sharing in common the need for a place to stay. Um I do want to call out that this is a project that we have been asked to come to Morehead and provide by many uh members of the community. And in particular, there is a youth um advisory council or a youth action board that was formed by the continuum of care within this region to try to address homelessness in the community. And that uh youth board, many of the members are present here tonight have really been pressuring to say we need more. We need some better housing and we need better supports. and we are expecting that young people will continue to be a part of helping us frame what this looks like uh going forward. In terms of where we're at in ter uh environmental or regulatory compliance, we've we've completed the environmental the city has completed um on our behalf the environmental review. Uh categorically it is excluded. There's no mitigation required. Um it's not located on a flood plane as you know. It's not an airport zone. Um, we also had a site visit comp uh completed by Mike Moss from the city as well as uh meetings held with the fire chief Garvey and Kent Severson. We are not seeing any challenges for us to be able to follow through with this at this point in time based on all of that. There's only two very minor changes that we expect to make to the property. The first is that because this was a memory care facility, it had an alarm associated with and a lock to that if someone was to leave the building that it would set the alarms off for safety for those individuals. And so we'll just be disarming that because there will not be a need for that. And then the second is that it has a commercial uh stove within uh the kitchen which we are going to have be a residential stove so that

it can be used by residents uh that are there. Uh lastly, the the need in this community. We have seen we have been providing services in the Fargo Morehead area for decades and honestly we are enthused and excited to be coming to Morehead to provide a more substantial level of service here. We will have staff on site. We will have as many as six to eight um staff who will be there during the day. We will have um uh staff that are there overnights to make sure that we can provide as safe as a a location for all of the individuals who are there to receive the housing. And so I would stand for any questions about any of the details associated with this project. And we do have a couple of our staff members and some young people here too. So if I can't answer those questions, I might defer.

All right. Thank you so much, Mark. Um, I know when I've previously previously heard you talk about, uh, the unhoused individuals in the Fargo Morhead area, um, there is a desperate need for more beds for these young homeless individuals, um, to be able to have a safe place to rest their head at night. And I appreciate that Youth Works also provides the wraparound services that are so um, necessary, particularly for individuals who are young and maybe don't have some of the life skills that some older adults need. Although um you know I personally think you should offer all this for all young adults because we would two children who you know have grown into young adults. Uh there are there were opportunities that they could have probably used some of the same classes that you offer. So I really appreciate that you are choosing Morehead that you have found a use for a empty building that is currently um located near to a downtown. And I also think it's great because they will have walkability to do things and access things that they might need. So, thank you for that. Um, do any council members have any questions before we um vote on this agenda item? Council member Nisser,

I I don't necessarily have a question. I just want to thank you for being here, Mark, and bringing staff and some residents with you. I think we have had multiple presentations at city council um expressing the need. Chandler Esinger Chandler Esinger was here um from the FM um homeless coalition. Um we had a Moreheart award winner several months ago um Amy Rikio from the um Morehead Area Public School System. I I think we just hear that need and hear how our community is really trying to assist and help out and we couldn't do this without Youth Works. And so thank you for coming, but also thank you for providing [clears throat] this really additional excellent additional information as people who uh residents may be watching online tonight. They may be concerned about um your uh the the new facility that you are having and I feel like this is really excellent information to have to be able to share the good news about this wonderful opportunity. So I just wanted to thank you and say the need has gone on for far too long. this won't solve the problem, but it will be one um very helpful step toward um helping many many people in our community. So, thank you very much.

Thank you. All right. With that, I would entertain a Oh, I'm sorry, Council Member Nelson. Thank you, Mayor. Uh just a uh quick question. You mentioned that there's going to be staff uh during the day and overnight. Just to clarify, you're talking about 247 staff or is it or will there be time where there isn't staff or there is there will be you just want to clarify that for me?

Yeah, two things. Um there there will be heightened services, case management, life skill support groups during the daytime and we will have 247 staff outside of that. We also have uh 247 um uh crisis line as well. So in whatever the event that we might also need more supports and services, we've had advanced meetings uh with um uh the police department also to make sure that they're aware that this is what our intent and plan is and had some discussions about just expectations that we have um that they might have or we might have together, you know, with regards to that. But yes, we will have um 247 staff.

I appreciate that. Sounds like you've had some great conversations and my um um what was my last question here. Um I think I just lost it, but I think you might have covered it. So, thank you. Appreciate it. Move to approve 10 C. [snorts] White seconds. Motion and second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. White, yes. Borggan, yes. McDougall. Hi. Hendrickson. Yes. Nelson. Hi. Matson. Yes. Nissie Meyer. Yes. Moore.

Yes. All right. That motion carries. So, where did he go? Oh, there you are. [laughter] Like, you sat down. Where'd you go? So, congratulations. Um, welcome to Morehead. And I'm just really excited for these youth who are going to have a a safe place to put their head at night. Thank you. Um, next with a consent agenda, we approved a whole lot. So, we are now on to mayor and council reports. Uh, any council members have reports from board and committee meetings. Council member Nelson, then council member Nissmeer.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh back on it would have been January 27th, we would have had our January board meeting for the Red River Regional Dispatch Center. Um every other year, well, we elect uh new chair positions. So every other year, uh we switch between a North Dakota representative and a Minnesota representative. So last year, Mayor Dardis in West Fargo was the chair. Uh so we moved to a Minnesota representative, uh this year. So, I was um selected as the chair of the triple RDC um for the uh for this year and then Cass County Representative Jim Capitan is the uh vice chair um for this year. Um and then as far as the facility and they uh and the operations there, as you know, they moved in uh towards the end of last year and have been operating there now for a little over a month. It's been going uh relatively smooth. some hiccups uh here and there that they're working out some final I'll say glitches with the technology working uh um together and so forth. So um they're working on finalizing that with uh in the upcoming months. Um but otherwise things are going well and staffing is going well and uh so far it's uh looking like they'll probably come about a million dollars under budget. So uh it's a good uh place where uh that's been going. So, that's my report for today.

Thank you, Council Member Nissmeer.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I have a couple of meetings to report on. Uh, first, uh, Tuesday, January 27th, the Morehead Public Housing Agency met. Um, we do have one at large seat open. So, if you are interested at serving on serving on a board or commission, please reach out and fill out that form. Again, it's easy to find. you can click, it's a short form filling out some um basic demographic information because it's at large. Um the mayor is able to pull from anybody throughout the city, not just ward two or ward one or any of those other limitations. And so having a full board would be really outstanding to be able to celebrate a number of things. Again, um the Morehead public housing unit passed um its audit and has selected another audit uh provider. It ended up being Brady Mertz again for the coming years to be able to provide um the agency and HUD required um audits. Um we also have started meeting at Field Crest Town Homes occasionally. You can check out our meeting schedule um to be able to find us uh at a number of the housing agencies across town. It's really important to be able to engage with residents and if residents aren't able to um come, you are able to submit comments ahead of time and we encourage all of the residents in Morhead public housing units um to reach out if they have um any areas of concern or require any information. The second meeting I'd like to report on is from Thursday, January 29th, the solid waste advisory committee. Um we had a presentation from a local resident uh from Morehead on the potential for um organic composting. Um there is a climate smart food systems grant available currently from the EPA and um the committee as well as the commissioners who had visited with this resident prior um were encouraged to

continue that grant planning which is due in midappril. And so that would allow for a collaboration potentially between the county, the city, um, as well as several large area entities like the Morehead Area Public School System to work on organics uh, composting. To highlight a throwback to some stats I had visited about before, about 40% of the waste within um, the county that was counted at our trash counting fund. If you want to count trash next fall, you just let me know. You can join us and robe up to count trash. The results yielded about 40%. That 40% of organic waste tells us two things. Our community is doing an excellent job with reusing and recycling products. Typically the number is about 30%. So that tells us that our residents are already doing an amazing job. But it also means that 40% of that waste could be put into organic compost which could be another revenue stream um for the county and uh alleviate a great deal of the materials that are going into our Klay County landfill which is in Holly. Um the uh news hopefully will be coming soon that we can get some updates on the success of that grant as well as well first it being submitted and two that it has been successful. Um, a couple of other items that may be of interest. Um, zoning and planning will be explored uh for the need for composting and that um, site location potential. The county has said that they will work with their entities to sort of provide helpful information as well as look at that 20% match that is required from that EPA grant. Um, other topics, an air permit application for our lakes and prairies co-op. Again, we send our trash to PUM to be burned. Um, if it is compatible and it is our

days to send trash, an air permit application, which was sent in um 2017, will now be heard in June of 2026. So, it takes a long time for some of these permit applications to happen, but um the co-op is very excited. um, Commissioner Kevin Campbell sits on that board as well as our solid waste um, director attend those lakes and prairieies monthly um, uh, meetings and having that information about what we are able to burn and the burning temperatures for keeping the PAS out of our world is a pretty exciting matter. Other elements that were brought up at the solid waste advisory committee are the need to replace some dozer parts and some landfill pump um updates. Um landfill pumps are for leeate to be able to pump out icky water, technical term icky water, and um move it to a uh another location to be disposed of properly. Um there is also a a group that is looking at the landfill boiler systems. Currently our methane boilers are not working at the highest efficiency that they can. And so the highlight of that need from solid waste staff is really excellent because if we can do um great by our entire community and county by having um higher efficiency methane burners and collectors, I think we will be doing better by everybody in our ecosystem. Thank you. That is all of my updates.

Thank you. And I did want to clarify, did you say that there was a public housing um position open? There is. Yeah. At large. Okay. We just approved that tonight. So, I missed that. I thought I only saw Seham and Derek. I missed the other one. My apologies. That's okay. I just I just wanted to make sure. Never mind. I lied everybody. Don't fill out an application.

Huge influx of applications that [laughter] won't be probably looked out for a while. So, um, other council members, uh, council member Borian. No, we can't hear you. You're on mute. Or at least from our end, it looks like you're on mute. Uh, and Chris, I don't know if you can hear me, but is there a way to unmute Miss Borggan? Well, maybe while we work on that, I want to check with Chris, see if he can unmute her. Um, I will go any other council members with reports from boards or committees. Okay. Um, I will, um, so I have not been to as many meetings or events as I typically do. I had, um, a family emergency, so I was not in town for a while. Um but this past weekend um I did uh participate in an interview with uh Kurdish TV and they interviewed me about the city of Morehead and our friendship proclamation and uh some of the uh different things that we're doing to continue to develop a relationship with Zahoo in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Um I also attended the Fargo Morehead Chinese um uh New Year festival. Um it is the year of the horse. So I got to um meet with a lot of wonderful uh individuals from Asian descent that live in the Fargo

Morehead community and see a great number of present uh dances and speaking events and and a whole list of things. Um that was really wonderful. And then what was also unique is there were three individuals here from the um from the Chinese um not the Chinese consulate out of Chicago who had been here never been here but were here for the first time. Um and so they had a lot of questions about this region and um kind of you know what is our main products that we manufacture here? Um what are the people like? What are the different cultures that we have here? Um the university system, education, so on and so forth. So, it was a really interesting conversation with them as well. Um, and then last but not least, I was invited to attend a Bani Charitable Foundation event for humanitarian efforts in the Kurdish region. Um, uh, and I was able to go there and also got to, uh, enjoy some really great homemade baklava. So, um, but those were the events that I attended over the course of this weekend. Um, and I see that council member Borggan is not online anymore, so I'm anticipating she will eventually come back. Um, I will turn it over to city manager Molly for now.

Sure. Thank you, Mayor. Um, just an observation. So, I was in uh Columbus, Ohio, uh, vis visiting a daughter and while we were there, there was the um this this snowstorm of record. Uh, one of the things that really stood out, we were in our Uber and we're driving behind this plow truck driver that actually a couple plow truck drivers that were that were struggling. There were over 60 water main breaks. The mayor had gotten on the um the TV that evening and you know had watched him say, "Listen folks, we've been talking about this for over 20 years trying to figure out how to take care of these 50 era water pipes and eventually something bad was going to happen. This storm is what was bad." They had blocks and blocks of ice at 6 to 8 8 in and and and really really kind of struggling. And then um flew home and it was about a about a day or two later and I'm driving in my car same about looks like the same kind of snow situation and there was a plow truck driver that was right in front of me and I'm telling you I was in awe. It was like masterful. I hope everybody can have this experience. It was just so incredible and I thought I have to tell the city council that these plow truck drivers are really incredible people. They're professionals. The way they do the work and how is really something to watch. So a moment of gratitude to them

100%. All right. Uh Council Member Borggan is back on. So hopefully uh you're Can you hear me now? Now we can hear you. Okay. Turn it over to

Thank you. I'm sorry. Sorry about the technical difficulties. Um uh for my report I went to a couple of very interesting meetings. One was called the cold weather summit and it was um put on by a company out of Fargo and it really was about all of the different technological and advanced things that people are doing right here in Fargo that can help us with um cold weather. and they also have contracts with the defense department etc. So it was very interesting and I was happy to attend that. I also attended the building industry association's annual meeting to hear more about all of the um housing starts and um to celebrate everything that went on last year. And then finally the legislative work group. We've had several meetings um getting prepared for our Morehead Day at the capital. So that's my report. Thank you.

Well, and I also just want to acknowledge um that there was a pretty big event that happened um in the city of Morehead where Essentia Health announced that they have purchased the old Wells Fargo building and are going to be building a clinic there and I guess more to come. We're not sure exactly everything that is going to be going into that downtown area, but it's a corner of our downtown and um I think it's just really exciting news and just want to thank Essentia for continuing to invest in Morehead. Um and exciting to I'm looking forward to hearing more exciting news from Assa about what is going to go in actually that location. So, um, and thank you to Council Member Borin for stepping in for me. And I know that, uh, Council Member Hendrickson, um, you also presented at the intergovernmental retreat, um, which I'm not sure I was not able to be there that day. I'm not sure how many individuals were in attendance. Um, I don't know if one of you who was attending or if Council Member Hendrickson would like to speak to that.

I can I can talk about that. Um yeah, there was quite a few people there. We heard from a lot of area superintendent um and a couple mayors. So yeah, it was well attended and uh just great updates from Morehead. You know, everything's going well and you know, I got to break about Morhead. So it was a good day. It was a good day. Thank you. I think the only other thing was the um the BIA the um which is the old home builders association. I don't know if city manager Molly if you attended that event. Um builders and industry association. Yes. Yes.

Building industry association. I can never I want to say it's Bureau of Indian Affairs because that's what it that acronym means in my head. Um but I know that that event was held. Um and I know that uh the reports from homes being built in the city of Morehead, we had more than that was built in the city of St. Cloud. So I know that we are on track to continue to do well in building homes in the city of Morehead. So um thank you everyone for that. Um, we already had city manager reports, so we do not have an executive session tonight. We do have new business that was placed on the agenda this morning. Um, a request by council member White Moore and Matson to discuss response to a future ICE action in Morehead. And not quite sure who to turn it over to. Uh,

I can start. Council member White.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh last Thursday, council members Moore, Matson, Nissa Meyer, and I met with the city manager and the city attorney just to um talk about some of the questions that we had, follow-up questions from information we'd had earlier and just sharing some of the concerns from that we're hearing in the community um about uh federal immigration enforcement and other activities in our state. Um it was first I just want to take the opportunity to thank the city manager and the city attorney. Um it was really helpful to get some more detailed information and just explore some different possibilities of things that we could do. who I know that we're all um concerned and hearing things and um so it was really helpful to you know we've we know that there are a lot of difficulties and challenges in terms of what we can't do but really trying to think about what are some of the things that we can do and so um based on that since this was just the four of us we wanted to bring this back to the council because um you know uh just to if we are going to do anything it needs to you know we need council action to direct the staff to do some of that. So, we came up with two things that we wanted to bring forward um just so that staff could even look into these things and then we would you know potentially act on them later on. So, we're not a asking for any specific action tonight. But the two action items um that we have, the first one is um really based on some ongoing conversations about um whether we can restrict ICE access to ICE and other uh federal immigration authority, access to public property um for as staging areas and we've seen in other cities that they have put restrictions on them. Um it is a

complicated thing but we um tried to really look at something that would be actionable in a relatively uh short period of time and um narrowing it in terms of focusing on folks that we think are the most at risk. And so, um, what we are proposing as our first action item is just to request that the city direct the city manager and staff to draft policy to bring to the next council meeting that would prohibit agencies from the Department of Homeland Security involved with Immigration Enforcement from using city-owned recreation areas, including all city parks as well as parking lots at the Morehead Library. library Morehead Golf Courses and the Yamcom Center Center as staging areas for immigration op enforcement operations. And the rationale is that, you know, of all of our city properties, these recreation areas are most often frequented by children and senior citizens. Um, and while there we are limited in our ability to restrict federal agents access to city-owned spaces, it just seems reasonable to make every effort to limit their actions in spaces most often frequented by children and seniors in order to ensure the safety of these vulnerable citizens. Um, so that is our first one. So again, we're not asking to pass a restriction just to to direct staff to be able to work on something that they could bring to us at the next council meeting. Um, if you'd like, mayor, I can stop at that one. Would you like me to talk about both of them or should we just do them one at a time?

Um, I think it might be easier just do it one at a time. I agree. Thanks. So that's our first request. Not sure if there uh uh city attorney Shakley is is there a motion needed with this? Um [clears throat] yes. Uh madame mayor, you'd probably want to have a motion in place, a motion and a second to have to direct the city manager and staff to undertake the work. I'll make that motion then.

I will second. There is a motion and second. Um, any discussion? Uh, Council Member Borggan.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. I'm concerned about asking our staff to be doing a bunch of work that it does not seem that there is really a basis for doing this work. I have not heard that we have an abundance of federal law enforcement in the Morehead area. I also am concerned that the council is looking to have to do things that are not really in our purview. We are not law enforcement. We don't have the ability to tell the federal government how they're going to do their enforcement. We may not like it in other areas of the state, but I haven't seen it here. So, I I'm very reluctant to have our staff be working on anything like this. So, I would object to this. In fact, I'm wondering if this shouldn't even be tabled because we never had a chance to review this. Apparently, it was asked for this morning. I was traveling all day. I'm still traveling. Uh, council member Hendrickson is sick. He's here now because he didn't know about this either. I just think it's kind of blindsiding us. And I would make the motion to table this because we're not ready to have this discussion today. Okay. So, there's a motion to table. Is there a second?

I'll second that. I'll second it. That's okay. Okay. So, there's a motion and a second. Uh, city attorney Shockley. Um, since you have a motion to table, motions to table are generally non-debatable. So, you just need to call the question on whether or not to table it. And that's a majority vote to table. Okay. Um, then uh um if our city clerk could take a roll call, please. White. No Madson. No Nissa Meyer. No Hendrickson. Yes. Nelson Moore.

No. McDougall. Hi. Oregon. Yes. 44. [clears throat]

Okay. Um, so anytime there is a a tie vote, um, I am the tiebreaker and the motion to table it was to allow for further discussion um, amongst the council at some later point in time versus having council work on drafting uh, the ordinance proposed by council member White. Did I get that correct? C. Uh, City Attorney Shockley.

Um, I believe the motion to table was uh to table having staff look at different options. Um, I don't think there was even an ordinance was being discussed yet, Madame Mayor.

Okay. All right. Um, and I will vote to table that item so that further discussion can be held amongst council. um given the fact we don't have two of them here um to determine uh for the council to move forward on as as one voice as to whether or not they want this um to be directed to staff to continue to um examine this issue. And I think there was a second item that you wanted to discuss.

Yes. Uh I'll just I'll read this one. Um, I guess maybe we will be able to cover this at the next any I don't. All right. We further request that the council direct the city manager to investigate additional opportunities to protect our community from federal enforcement agencies. Further explore the role of f of Morhead Police Department during potential federal enforcement activities and prioritize time during our next workshop to discuss these issues further. So, a lot of this stems from um these are questions that we've been asking for more than a month. Uh including the one that was just tabled. We actually did ask about that and received information weeks ago about it that all council members have received. So, we've been asking for some time now about um things such as our ability to restrict access to public property. So, um I'm not sure if council members aren't reading the material, but but we actually have received all of this information weeks ago and in fact, um a couple of weeks before our previous week workshop, I had asked if we could include a discussion of this on the agenda of the previous workshop. And so now, um since nothing has and now we've tabled this one, um and we still haven't even started to talk about this. And at our last workshop, I did ask um for all of the council to have a meeting and discuss this. Um so now we're asking again if we could um have these things explored and again asking if we could have it on the agenda at the next workshop. Council member Matson,

can I simplify things by making a motion that we discuss this topic at our next workshop as opposed to including all of the other things that that you just said? Again, I'm going to defer to council member or to city attorney Shackley. I don't know if this um kind of falls under the purview of operations. Um I know that our city manager has put together a schedule of um items for our workshop discussions for the entire year that focus um specifically on um items and within the purview of city the city um city's authority um and also that have direct uh that are directly impacting our our city departments. But, uh, city attorney Shley, if you could provide some insight here, that would be fantastic.

Um, madame mayor, council member can certainly make a motion to add something to a workshop. Um, if if that's if it's something the council member wants to add, they can make a motion to add it. It is uh germanine to the new business topic. So, it's it seems like it's appropriate motion. Okay, thank you. Um, so there is a motion. Um, is there a second? Second.

So there is a motion and a second to add to the next workshop a discussion related to Council Member Manson, maybe you can frame it um how you would like. Sure. um discussion of um our city's options regarding a response or preparation for um federal immigration enforcement activities. Okay. And there was a second. Yep. Okay. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Council member Branson.

Um I would just ask the city manager if you would provide some context. Um my understanding is that you you asked us to come here and ask the council if we could put this on the next workshop agenda. Is that is that an accurate understanding? Well, there's a So when So if we're in a meeting of four council members and five members aren't there that this is the place to do that. This is this is an open meeting. This is transparent. Everybody can see what's happening. Correct. But I I think I guess my understanding was and again please correct me if I'm wrong. Um you didn't feel comfortable adding it to the agenda without us having a conversation about it first.

I I understand your question better. So this isn't an operational question. So we do day-to-day operations. This is a council affair. This is a policy question, pure policy. And I don't know if the city attorney would disagree or not, but I this is not operations dayto-day. This is, you know, I I this is a council affair where the direction if it's to staff to prepare information uh to share at a workshop, certainly we can do that, but this is a decision of the council. Thank you. Any other discussion? Uh, Council Member Borggan.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, if I recall, we asked for this at the last workshop and we received several pages from the city manager and city attorney in regard to our authority and our ability to do things in relation to ICE operations. I read that. I mean, I'm pretty sure we all read it and it was pretty clear what we can do and what we can't do. And therefore, I will oppose this motion because I think we've done it and it doesn't make sense to me to poke the bear. Right now, there hasn't been a lot of activity in Morehead and I don't think it's in the best interests of the city of Morehead to be making these kind of policies when it's not necessary. And at the intergovernmental retreat last week, I talked with the sheriff and asked him how things were going. And he said when they have someone that ICE wants to pick up, they either come to the jail cuz they're in the jail or they will, you know, that's what they do. And it hasn't been a huge issue. So I think this is making something out of something that's not here. So I would oppose it. Any other discussion? Uh, council member McDougall.

Thank [clears throat] you, Madam Mayor. The question I have is the galleys of it. I mean, do we really have the authority to do that? And we're looking at public spaces. I mean, how do we say who and can't who and cannot go to the public space? And granted, this is federal as well. I mean, they're above what we do anyways. Um, that's why I I have a hard time approving this. I mean, federal's above state and city. So, I mean, what are we supposed to do with that? As long as kind of a lost words, but I the way I look at it is it's it's above us, and I don't think we should be uh I guess what Matt U Borggan said is poking that bear on it. I don't see a purpose or a need for it right now.

Okay. Thank you. Um Coun Council Council Member Nelson and then Council Member White. Thank you, mayor. I agree with uh council member um Borggan what she had to say. We got that information in our in our email uh the legal um advice from attorney Shockley and from the city manager and we we don't have much authority there. Um, you know, I think we should, uh, as the council just recognize, let's leave the, uh, law enforcement, um, arena to the law enforcement experts with our local, uh, chief of police and sheriffs to work with, uh, federal authorities. Um, they have a great working relationship here locally, regionally. They always have, they continue to do so. Um and uh you know there's there's a lot of aspects that we as the council probably don't know that uh insides uh of all that but I think we we just leave it to them. So, um, we don't want to jeopardize the safety of our whether it's our city officers wearing the blue, our county deputies on the brown uniforms, our state troopers, um, uh, conservation officers, you name it. Um, let's not make their job any harder than it than it already is. I mean, we just uh we listened to a press conference last week with our county attorney um that reviewed a an incident involving um where our own staff were um under fire from um here in the city uh last last year. I mean, it's a tough job. So,

I'm not an expert. You know, I've been out of the business for a while, but we got some great team members that work great with the federal partners in the area and I trust them and I think they could do a great job. So, I I think we can uh instead of agitate and escalate the situation, um we've seen that by not working together and taking those stances, it doesn't work. Um it just agitates the situation. We've seen how that agitates it in other areas and that's not the not the route to take. So, I think we just need to take a pause here, think about it, and uh that's where that's where I'm at. So, I I'm going to um vote the same way. Thank you.

Uh Council Member White.

Okay. So just to clarify, all we were asking is that we one allow staff to even look at possibilities and two that we as a council discuss these things. So we haven't even asked you to take action. We're just asking to do the very bare minimum of even discussing some of these things. So for one, we have met with the city attorney and so we brought these forward because we heard from our city attorney that while there are limitations in what we can do, there are things that we cannot or that we can do. So it's as I said at the beginning, you know, there are a lot of challenges, but we can either just bury our heads in the sand and say, well, I guess we won't do anything and we won't even talk about it. or we can look at what are the things that we can do and this is coming from our discussion with our city attorney who has given us some of the parameters for things that we actually can do. The one thing that we came forward with of saying that it doesn't seem appropriate at places where you have lots of small children and senior citizens to have a staging area for a federal enforcement. have we've we have seen what has happened in other areas. A six-month-old baby almost died in the Twin Cities. This is just one of the many examples because when there was an ICE operation and there were protesters members of f of the um of uh ICE threw uh tear gas under the car of a family of six that were driving home from a basketball game and it got into their car and the baby almost died. So just taking reasonable measures to say this

is probably not the place where you should be staging an immigration enforcement activity. The fact that you know we're just saying can we discuss that as a possibility. Um it astounds me that people on this council would be unwilling to even entertain those discussions. Um, so we are the things that we're bringing forward are based on things that we've already done the leg work of meeting with our city attorney. We've been asking for some time now for us to be able to have discussions of these things and it's it's just astounds me that our council won't even that members of the council aren't even willing to discuss it. Um in terms of cooperation, you know, we know that we are not getting information our our local law enforcement is not getting information from federal law or f from these federal agencies and there are particular challenges. So, when we mentioned in what I read to you about just talking about things like what might our local law enforcement do, we have challenges such as in our public school right now, they're trying to prepare for what do you do when people with masks come into the school with arms and they will not identify themselves and they do not have a warrant. Okay. um what is the role of pro that we would take on to protect our children. And one of the things that they and I will let perhaps other council members talk about this is just to be able to verify with our local law enforcement whether or not they can see is does this group have a warrant because we have a situation where at this point because our federal um immigration enforcement agents are not identifying themselves and going in without warrants. Not only are they

creating a risk, but anybody could just go in there and say, "Yeah, we're there with ICE and going to a school with guns. I mean, there's just like these crazy things that nobody anticipated because of the actions that we're seeing." I hope that, you know, first of all, the idea that we are immune is naive. I can tell you we have had people in our area who have been illegally detained for long periods of time. We are seeing ICE actions in our area. I'm thankful that we haven't seen the kind of widespread sweeps that we've seen in other areas, but I don't think that means we should just not prepare at all. And again, these are just really reasonable precautions that we're talking about. And I'll just leave it at that. Council member Hendrickson, did you want to speak? I don't know if I

Yeah, I could speak. So this this last item is to add this to our workshop. Am I getting that straight? That is correct.

Okay. I'm I you know I'm you know if we need to further discuss this in a workshop you know I can I can I can agree to that. Um like the previous motion you know I want to do a little research on it and I know information has been sent to us but I think if we need want to add it to a workshop agenda I think it's fine. So I I'll support it. Okay. Any other discussion? Okay. Um I did I just have a few questions. Um, and I guess it's somewhat related to the first motion that was made in regards to looking at prohibiting um, and I'm not sure council member White how you exactly phrased it, so I'm going to just paraphrase, but um, not allowing ICE agents to stage in city-owned property. and city attorney Shockley, I'm hoping that you can provide some insight because I'm I'm trying to process what that would look like. So, if that were to be put into place and that's a policy um or even if it's becomes a city ordinance and if ICE were to come and do a staging event, how would that ever how how does that get enforced?

Um, thank you, Madame Mayor. Uh so the research [clears throat] I've done, I've looked at what other communities in Minnesota have undertaken. Um Minneapolis and St. Paul uh have utilized a separation what they refer to as a separation ordinance, which is essentially uh that city property can't be utilized uh by uh federal law enforcement agencies uh in that the city like private property owner is exercising its right not to use city property. Um it's candidly it's a little unclear how you enforce such an ordinance. If there is a position in which uh I'll use for example federal officials are staging on city property and there's a demand by the local entity to leave the property. Um, as we've seen uh with some of the other agencies, even in a criminal investigation with the court order, there's been a refusal by uh federal authorities to allow uh state officials to access the crime scene. So, it it's a little uh unclear yet from a legal perspective how a court would look at uh if the city had an ordinance in place and whether or not it would enforce a trespass action against a a federal official. Um we don't have a lot of case law obviously in this area. So, it uh we would be looking to see what uh Minneapolis and St. Paul have have been able to accomplish or not accomplish. And that's if if the council were to go that direction, we would have a memo prepared on that information. But that's that would be an open question about how you would enforce it if there was a refusal by uh say ICE or another federal official uh to leave city

property. So if that were to occur, we would need to dispatch our local law enforcement officers to those sites um to give a trespass citation

potentially. I think what some of the other cities have been doing is they've just notified uh through a civil letter to ICE that they're not permitted to use city property. Um I don't know if there's been an actual situation where they have um gathered on city property and the next step has been has occurred. Um it many of these are still open questions just candidly because of um the system uh the is designed where the federal government uh controls immigration and typically in the area of immigration uh cities uh and even states don't have a lot of authority and so that's why um there's just there's just not a lot of clarity from a legal perspective and you know That's that's why we've seen some of the cases that have been undertaken by the Minnesota Attorney General's office along with the cases that are being undertaken by the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. And I have been in regular contact with those city attorneys uh to get updates on how they're progressing on their legal actions.

Okay. Okay. So, there's already current legal action happening in the state of Minnesota. um because this is so unclear because it's not really under the purview of city authority and local law enforcement wouldn't nec this is what I'm hearing from you and so correct me if I'm misstating something. So, what I'm hearing is that if if something were to be put into place in regards to not allowing federal agencies, which um federal agencies I think is fairly broad because that also would include ATF, DEA, FBI, um all federal agencies um if if that's how um other municipalities are looking at this. And if it's a civil letter, then it's not really criminal. So, they would be able to continue to do their actions and would not necessarily be able to stop what they would be doing at that point in time. And then we're getting our local law enforcement involved in trying to navigate this real complex legal conundrum. Just just for clarity, u madame mayor, I think the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis have passed a separation ordinance that just says that uh city property can't be used by uh immigration officials. Um the enforcement of that I think has largely been respected by federal officials, but I don't know if there's been any test cases where federal officials have said we're not going to uh follow the wishes of local jurisdiction and have went and used city property for staging. Um if it's unclear how you would take that to the next

level for enforcement um we'd certainly if you know if this moves on to an agenda item we we'll work on having those an questions answered for the council. Um but it's it's still a little bit unclear just because I haven't I've done initial research. I've been in contact with the different jurisdictions. I just haven't gotten to the point of what happens fully if the city has to enforce it.

Okay. Um I just wanted to kind of play out how that would look because I it kind of piqued my curiosity on if if an ordinance or a no trespass was put into play. um isn't more performative in saying please don't do this and then if they violate it, there's really no teeth in doing it anyway. And then we have had uh a lot of staff and um a lot of staff time and resources put into developing something that um we have two of our biggest communities in the state of Minnesota who have um many more resources than we do attempting to figure this out. I'm I'm you know in the spirit of having a discussion and having a having the ability to talk about this. We're all here right now. So, I think that, you know, we just kind of doing this right now. We already spent 45 minutes at our last council meeting doing it and went a half hour beyond. Um, I'm just kind of trying to envision how it would play out. and and um if this kind of activity has not been occurring in Morehead and I I really trust our chief of police and I'm very supportive of our law enforcement and not wanting to have our law enforcement get involved in these conundrums where there's no clear legal authority for what they should do or shouldn't be doing. Um just it's a very uh unclear legal road that we're on. Uh Council Member Borggan,

thank you. I just want to point out that, you know, I think personally we've all seen the news. We've seen what's happened in Minneapolis and St. Paul and we don't like it. But the the fact of the matter is we haven't been experiencing those things here. Making our staff and our attorney spend time on hypothetical situations which even if they did it, the test case is already down in Minneapolis St. Paul. It's not going to be up here in Morehead. And I think you run the risk of, you know, making a big show of this and it could cause us to have the issues that we aren't having right now. So, we're we're an a-olitical board. We are not partisan. You know, each of us individually have our own political bents, I'm sure. But it seems to me that the council requesting the city manager, our staff, and the attorney to spend time, and no offense, John Shockley, I'm an attorney, too. All the time you put in, we have to pay you for. I mean, it's not you're not free. So, it just seems to me like I don't know why we're doing this. You know, every time a council member wants something done, are we gonna just have the attorney charge us his hourly rate so they can look into something that a council member wants? I just I have a little bit of a problem with it. And that's why I'm not going to support this. I I think we've discussed it enough. I don't think we would have the vote to do anything. And I just don't want our staff and our attorney and our city manager spending more time on this. Thank you. Council member White and then Council Member Matson.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, first I just wanted to again um you asked about it, Mayor. I wanted to reiterate what we were proposing, which is a pretty narrow in scope. It is it wasn't all city property. It was those that are most often frequented by children and senior citizens. So again, our parks, our library here at the Yamome Center where we have FMCT and we have our senior center um that we don't think that those are appropriate spaces for these types of activities. That's what we were requesting. And um the uh you know, and I I know I appreciate the questions that the mayor had. That was the purpose of this to bring this forward so that we could direct staff and the city attorney to get answers to those but now it's been tabled. So that means they are no longer able to take that action to get answers to the questions that we would um wish them to explore. So again it's was very narrow in scope. It was focused on protecting our most vulnerable members of our community and we just wanted to be able to have the city staff and city manager look into how we might go about doing that.

Council member Matson and then Council Member Nelson. Um, thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, I have this letter here. I don't know. I know council member Nissa Meyer got the same letter. Um or a similar um council member Moore. I'm not sure who all got the letter. Um Council Member Borggan um mentioned you're not sure why we're doing this and and I guess for me the reason is that people are asking us to do something. Um we've I've heard it many times from many people in many contexts. Please do something. People are asking us to do things that we definitely cannot do. But they're also asking us to try to to try to find something that we can do. And so I just want to read you just a little bit of this letter that I came here tonight and I had on my in my mail here. I am writing to ask you for your help regarding ICE in Morehead. The Trump administration is targeting Minnesota. I know how that sounds. Conspiracy, right? Conspiracy, right? Except he said it. And then he and his administration pulled ICE agents out of other states and concentrated their efforts on harassing, beating, kidnapping, and killing motans. ICE is in Morehead. We all think it can't happen here until it does. There's more. I won't read it all. It's from Bethany who lives in um on 4th Avenue South. And I Bethany, I appreciate I'm sorry, Britney. Britney, I appreciate the letter. Um I think we're asking to have a conversation. I think that we have indicated that we have five votes for that. So I will now call the question. Okay. Could we get a roll call, please?

Sorry, I missed a second on that. I think it was Heather Nie Mayer. Yep. Yep. I think it was council member Nisser. Perfect. Thank you. Moore. Yes. McDougall. No. Borggan. No. White. Yes. Matson. Yes. Nissa Meyer. Yes. Hendrickson. Yes. Nelson.

No. 53. Okay. So, that means that this item will be at our next council workshop. Um, I also want to be clear that I also agree that I should not be staging things in any of our public areas or buildings. I absolutely adore what they are doing down in the metro. Um, and I I definitely understand the desire to show care and concern for our residents, but I also want to make sure that we're not giving people false hope or false sense of secure uh false sense of security by implementing things that really have no legal teeth whatsoever. I think it it it gets to be real performative. Um and and when you give people a false sense of hope or a false sense of security, I think that that's misleading. Um and so I think I think a lot of us are feeling pretty helpless right now. And I think that that's why there's this show of wanting to try to figure out something to do. Um, unfortunately, I think a lot of times and with a lot of the questions that are being asked of us, the answer is going to be we can't do a lot because we just simply don't have a lot of that authority. Um, but we'll workshop it and we'll see. And, um,

mayor, can I just say one other thing? Thank you. No. Um, we [clears throat] are done with the meeting and it's 659 and I adjourn. Sorry, just something that I