City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I am Chuck Hendrickson, Mayor Pro Tem. The Moorhead City Council welcomes public input on issues listed on the agenda or of general community interest, time and council permitting. Speakers are limited to three minutes each. If you'd like to address the council during the meeting, please fill out a form provided by the city clerk. and we will call you up during the citizens addressing the council. Please state your name and if you are a Moorhead resident. If comments are submitted to the clerk prior to the meeting via email or phone, those comments will be entered into the record. For more information on the participation, please visit the council meetings page at the City of Moorhead website at moorheadminnesota.gov. We, the Moorhead City Council, collectively and with gratitude, acknowledge the sacred land the city of Moorhead is built upon. We acknowledge the people who have resided here for generations and recognize that the spirit of the Dakota, Ojibwe, Métis, and all indigenous communities permeates this land. With that, I'd like to call the council meeting for Monday, August 24th, 2026 to order, and can we get a roll call, please?

Ryan Nelson.

Here.

Nicole Matson. Here. Heather Niesmeyer. Here. Emily Moore. Here. Deb White. Here. Lisa Borgen. Here. Sebastian McDougall.

Here.

Chuck Hendrickson.

Here.

Shelly Carlson.

Thank you, City Clerk. If you are able, we'll stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. City Manager, are there any agenda amendments?

There are no amendments to the agenda tonight, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you. It brings us to the consent agenda. Are there any changes with the consent? Or with that, I'll ask for a motion to approve.

Move approval, Madsen. Second.

Okay, I don't know who got that one. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. The consent agenda passes. Brings us to item number five on the agenda, Proclamation Women's Equality Day. And Council Member Borgen will read that for us.

So we have an official proclamation, the City of Moorhead, State of Minnesota. Whereas, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution was certified, culminating a 72-year movement to secure the right to vote for women in America. ensuring their right to exercise the power of the ballot to shape the policy and the future of our nation. And whereas the Minnesota Women's Suffrage Association formed in 1881, coordinated statewide and local efforts to obtain universal suffrage for women and supported the creation of the Minnesota League of Women Voters in 1919. to educate recently enfranchised women in Minnesota and work in cooperation with the National League of Women Voters. And whereas Minnesota became the 15th state to ratify the 19th Amendment in the United States Constitution, on September 8th, 1919, recognizing the right of women to full suffrage. And whereas women's rights to full suffrage achieved constitutional protection in 1920, and the rights and freedoms of women have improved throughout the ensuing 103 years and continue to improve today, and whereas women of every background have made immeasurable and invaluable contributions to Minnesota throughout our past and during our present and will continue to do so in the future and whereas equality remains a goal towards which all Minnesotans should strive recognizing that only when all women and men have an equal opportunity to build a prosperous future. Can our communities, our state and our nation reach their full potential? Now, therefore, Chuck Hendrickson, Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Moorhead, do declare proclaim August 26, 2026 as Women's Equality Day.

And we're gonna get a picture in front of the sign there, so I invite all the councilmen. And I'll present this to Lynn.

Sweet.

I'm Lynn Dr. Pinnock with the League of Women Voters of the Red River Valley. On behalf of myself and the other League members that are here, we thank you to the Mayor Pro Tem, to all the members of the council, and I say a special thanks to my last minute request to my council member, Deb White, for helping bring this to your attention. But I thank you all for your support. And I know that we all understand the gravity of this moment in our history of women's equality. And so we appreciate your recognition of it. This is a day that recognizes the struggles of the past, as well as the gaps in the current times. And voting rights and women's equality are still pertinent, important issues of our time. And so this day, is important for us to remember, and we appreciate that it will be acknowledged in Moorhead. It's particularly important to me because my mother was born without the right to vote. This particular act was not passed until three or four years later. Now, granted, she was only a child, but I never forget that it's a right that we as women cannot take for granted. And voting rights remain important. I do also want to mention, and I've got copies that I'll pass out here, the League of Women Voters is active in our community, has done candidate forums and will continue to do them. and I have a copy of our upcoming candidate forums that I'd like to provide to you. So thank you once again on behalf of the League.

Thank you, Lynn. Thanks for coming. That brings us to agenda item number six, approval of the minutes. If there's no changes or additions, ask for approval or a motion.

Move to approve, Moore.

Second. So you have a motion and a second? I'll wait until then. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. And the approved minutes pass. which brings us to citizens addressing the council. I do believe we have one, Matt Knutson. Like we said before, you have three minutes, and as soon as this turns red, OK, that's finished. Thank you.

Thank you. Hello, members of the Moorhead City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening. My name is Matt Knutson. My family and I moved to Moorhead in 2023, and last year we bought a house in the Prairie Parkway development. In the photos I distributed on the photo of the Google Maps satellite view, Prairie Parkway is toward the bottom of the image, just east of Southside Regional Park. You can see in that image that Google Maps has not yet caught up to the development of the park, and there's only about eight houses there. This neighborhood contains 92 single-family homes. single-family lots, almost all of which are now built or under construction. On Sunday, August 2nd, my partner and I gave permission to our two kids, Autumn, age 12, who's with me tonight, and Quintin, age 8, to ride their bikes together up to Village Green Park. This park, located toward the top of that same satellite image, has a swimming pool that offered a way for the kids to cool off while getting out of the house. 30th Avenue has no sidewalk along its south side on this stretch, so the best way for the kids to get to the park on bike was to take 28th Street north, cross 30th Avenue, continue west for a couple blocks, cross 30th Avenue again at 26th Street Circle, which is circled in green on that image. This is what our kids did, but when Autumn crossed the median into eastbound traffic on 30th Avenue, she was struck by a car. The other photos I shared demonstrate some of the injuries and the damage to her bicycle. We are grateful to the off-duty paramedic and nurse that happened to be in the area when the collision occurred, as well as to Officer Brower, who responded to the 911 call. Autumn was incredibly lucky to be able to walk away from that crash without more serious injury or even fatal injury. Naturally, our whole family was reminded of the child who was fatally hit on his bike near Reinertsen Elementary the previous summer. I came here this evening to advocate for more safety measures on 30th Avenue, east of 20th Street. Between that intersection and Highway 52, past the Village Green golf course, 30th Avenue is a major through street whose speed increases from 30 to 40 miles per hour. i can't say what was going through the head of the driver who struck autumn but i will say that the absence of a sidewalk on the south side of 30th avenue played a role in the collision and that the crosswalk autumn was using could be made more noticeable village green park is often busy in the summer with families making use of the pool the park and the summer programming uh due to the rapid development of the prairie parkway neighborhood more families are now living in this part of town and autumn's case demonstrates the need for infrastructure to respond to this increase in population and activity um thank you so much for your time and for your consideration thank you and i'm sorry that happened um yeah it kind of breaks your heart a little bit but yeah we i think we'll have staff get a hold of you okay and talk about that i know i know what section you're talking about fourth ward yeah it's

kind of noticed that too you know it should be a sidewalk so yeah but like i said i'm sorry that happened and we'll have staff reach out to you thank you so much thank you check the time here Well, we technically can't start a public hearing, so we'll skip to agenda number 18, which is a resolution to approve the sale of city-owned land located at 1014 and 1016 19th Street South to Jasmine Child Care and Preschool. And I think it's Tanya.

Good evening. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council. I'm Tanya Kunza. I'm here to, for the Mayor and City Council, ask to consider a resolution to approve the sale of city-owned land located at 1014 and 1016 19th Street South. There are two parcels of land that are adjacent to Romke Park. City Council approved the land acquisition that Community Development Block Grant funds were utilized to purchase in January 8th, 2024 through the 2023 Annual Action Plan. Those funds were utilized to purchase the land in the purpose of partnering with Jasmine Services, doing business as Jasmine Daycare, to develop a daycare facility serving low to moderate income families. um following a required environmental review the city completed the purchase of the land in um in may of 2024 and the city entered into a cdbg agreement with jasmine services for the option and purchase of the property to construct a daycare facility in the neighborhood the agreement allowed jasmine to receive the property at a no cost to build a child care facility and also included an option allowing jasmine services to purchase the property at at the city's acquisition cost if they were unable to complete a CDBG eligible daycare project on the site. Meaning if they were unable to secure the funding for the daycare within a certain amount of time. After two years, Jasmine services has not been able to move forward with the CDBG eligible use and is choosing to exercise the option to purchase the lot at the at the price that was set forth in the agreement of $126,000, the cost of which it was CDBG funds were used for acquisition of the lot. Upon receipt, these funds will be returned to the CDBG program and the properties will no longer be subject to the restrictions of CDBG use. The city may be in a position to assist Jasmine in the future with the daycare facility if they choose to move forward with that. They were just unable to secure funding up until this date. So our request is to have a resolution to approve the sale of the land to Jasmine Services.

Thank you. Any questions from the council? Council Member White.

Thank you. I just want to speak in support of this. I've worked with the Jasmine Child Care Center for quite a while. I've toured their facility and been tremendously impressed by the service they provide. And I also know that they meet a very important workforce need, and that is besides the care that they provide during the day, they also do evening service. And so we know that we have a DRASTIC SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE DAY CARE IN OUR COMMUNITY, BUT PARTICULARLY THINGS LIKE THAT WHERE THERE ARE FOLKS THAT COULD BE EMPLOYED IN EVENING JOBS THAT CAN'T BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO CHILD CARE. AND SO THEY MEET A REALLY IMPORTANT NEED THAT WE DESPERATELY NEED MORE OF IN OUR COMMUNITY. and I know they've been working diligently on this project for a number of years and have done a lot of good work of laying the foundations for this, working with partners, and I think any flexibility that we can have to help them so that they can continue that trajectory even though it may be a little bit different what they thought we that might uh the timeline might be a year or so ago um i think that we should do and so um i think it'd be really i would love to see you know they're doing great work in fargo i would love to see that program come here to morehead and i think every time i see rotors guy i think that's exactly what i say to them so um so i just strongly support this project councilmember borgen

I just have a couple questions. So when the city purchased the land, did the city pay the taxable value of it? Or what kind of a value did we pay for it? Because we are going to now sell it to them for that value, which I don't have a problem with if we get that daycare. But my concern is there's nothing that's going to hold them to making that daycare. So is there anything that could prohibit them from turning around and selling it for a profit to somebody else? I guess is kind of my question. I'm just I don't know enough about it. I just had some questions about it. So you know,

CDBG funds were used to purchase it at the value of $126,000 and within the option and purchase agreement that we had entered into with Jasmine Services that's the amount that we had set forth for them to be able to purchase it outright if they were unable to meet within the deadline of constructing a CDBG eligible activity on it within the deadline of the agreement.

I get that. I guess my question is, if they still can't do that, is it worth more than what we sold it to them, what we're selling it to them right now? I'm just wondering if there's any strings attached that would require them to do this, and if they can't, I just don't understand all of it. So I just have a question.

Certainly. The understanding here is that the value of the land is $126,000 that's being conveyed and that this sale here releases any federal strings that would have been attached to that low to moderate income use. So they would own, Jasmine Child Care would own the land outright. Okay.

And I think you answered my question. I just thought perhaps we got it for a lesser amount than it was actually valued at, and we were selling it to them for a lesser amount, but you're telling me that's not it.

Yeah, we've checked with our assessor, correct? Yeah, that's the full and fair value for the vacant piece of land.

Sure, okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I move to approve the sale of city-owned land located at 1014 and 1016 19th Street South to Jasmine Child Care and Preschool. Wait seconds.

So we have a motion and a second. Any other questions or concerns? If not, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. And that motion passes. Very good. We need childcare in Moorhead. We need childcare throughout the state. Where I'm working part-time up in northern Minnesota, they're just crying for childcare because there's none up there. And you know, he can't attract employees if you don't have childcare, so very important. Which will bring us back to council agenda item number nine, the public hearing. Public hearing on the Community Development Block Grant 2025 plan amendments. Can I get a motion to open the public hearing?

So moved. Niesemeyer?

Second. Nelson? So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. And that does pass. You're on again.

Good evening. Thank you Mayor Pro Tem and members of City Council. This public hearing is related to an amendment to the CDBG program year 2025 action plan. There's no action required at tonight's meeting. The mayor and council pro tem are asked to hear public testimony and may close the hearing tonight. Final consideration will be considered at the September 14th city council meeting. The amendment is currently out for a 30 day public comment period which goes through September 13th, 2026 and no comments have been received to date. The proposed amendment to the council approved 2025 CDBG program year plan is to cancel an activity and reallocate the funds to a new activity. The 2025 plan had $40,000 allocated to an acquisition activity for the nonprofit Creative Care for Reaching Independence, CCRI. CCRI has been unsuccessful at finding a parcel of land that meets their price point and current need to build a group home. CCRI wishes to withdraw this 2025 activity and will apply for future assistance when a parcel of land is identified. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has stringent spending requirement deadlines each year, and in order to meet timely expenditure requirements, the City is proposing a new activity focused on blight removal. The City of Moorhead building codes often encounter properties that are substantial and not suitable for rehabilitation, and circumstances in which CDBG funds would assist with removal of slum and blight would include voluntary sale by owner to the city for a CDBG eligible use such as affordable housing construction, a no interest loan to owner under an agreement to construct a CDBG eligible use on the land after demolition, or dangerous building code enforcement where the expense assessed to the property and then returned to CDBG fund upon repayment of the assessment. Comments on this amendment can be made over the phone, by email, or by submitting comments through the website. You would go to moorheadmn.gov and in the search bar type Community Development Block Grant.

You said we didn't have to close the public hearing? Or we do? Did I get that right? We close it. Okay.

We're not allowed to vote. Okay.

I've been in the factory too long. My ears are kind of going. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on the public hearing? Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on the public hearing? If not, can I get a motion to close the public hearing?

So moved. Second, Lisa Mayer.

So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. and that the public hearing is closed. Now, we're not gonna vote on it, but does anybody have any questions? Council Member White.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Tonya, I just had a question. I really appreciated the idea to use this for blighted property. You know, in my neighborhood, that's an ongoing issue, and we've got some that, sometimes it's just, you know, folks that pass away or get elderly and they, have fallen behind in taking care of things, and some less than responsive landlords. But that $40,000, I wonder, have we done something like this before? To me, the one item, we have three different things that we could use it for. One is acquiring property, and it just seemed like $40,000 would be a drop in the bucket. Have we done something like this before? or would we be able to tap into some other funds? I'm just wondering, would that be a sufficient amount even to get at some of those, acquiring some of those blighted properties if that opportunity became available?

Yeah, we have done this in the past and typically it's acquisition would be like of the cost of of the land that there's typically no value in the building itself. That's going to be demoed and then it's the cost of the demolition of the building itself. It might not be the full amount that would be for the whole entire project, but it would be a significant amount that would go towards it. And again, we don't have a specific one in mind, but there is a number of different projects that do come up with building codes, identifying different areas that need to be addressed with being demoed and to remove slum and blades, so.

Thanks. Well, I really appreciate you bringing this idea forward.

If I could add, typically on these, anytime we're doing an affordable housing project or we're partnered in it, they call it subsidy layering. There's a number of different subsidies, sources of funds that come in to make a project work. They're just very tricky. So where this wouldn't be enough to get a project done, it certainly might make a big difference.

Any other questions? If not, yeah, we will not vote. I think that's in September, like you said. That's correct. Thank you very much. Thanks. Really appreciate it. That'll bring us to agenda item number 19, Mayor and Council Reports. Council Member Niesmeyer.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I had the opportunity to engage with lots of events this weekend, and I would like to appreciate all of the volunteers and coordinators who put together THE NUMBER OF EVENTS. WE HAD SMALL BUSINESSES CELEBRATING ANNIVERSARIES. WE HAD CULTURAL GROUPS GATHERING TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE LIFE, COLLABORATION, AS WELL AS ENGAGE IN AN ANNUAL CELEBRATION AT MB JOHNSON PARK FOR THE NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITY PICNIC. AND SO, AGAIN, I LOVE THAT OUR METRO WIDE ORGANIZATIONS, NONPROFITS AND FOLKS ARE COMING TO to have these celebrations so we can all engage together and build a better, stronger community. I would like to invite folks to the public housing meeting. It is at Fieldcrest Townhomes tomorrow at 1130 to 1230. It is an open public meeting. Lunch is served and we'd love to hear from folks who are interested in housing. On Wednesday, August 26th at 4 p.m., in this very room, we have the airport committee. And so if you are interested in seeing what the airport is all about and getting an update, as well as consider serving on the airport committee. Our boards and committees often have openings. And so if you have ever considered serving on something, please check out our links on our website. They're always up to date with a form to fill out with your interest. And so If you are interested in getting involved, please consider putting in an application. My third board and committee meeting this week is Thursday, August 27th at 8 a.m. at the Resource Recovery Center, and that is the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Again, open to the public. Come and join us for coffee and talking trash and recycling for our county. ALWAYS WELCOME TO VISIT WITH FOLKS. IF ATTENDING THESE MEETINGS ISN'T CONVENIENT AND FINDING MINUTES AND AGENDA IS DIFFICULT, SHOOT ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL. I'D LOVE TO FOLLOW UP AND VISIT WITH YOU. IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY THREE SECOND BLURB, AT OUR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS OR YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION.

Thank you. I wanted to give two quick updates on MapBus. One is that we just finished up the final stage of interviews for the transit director. The committee made a recommendation, and that will go to the Fargo City Commission. So by our next meeting, we should know who our new transit director is, so I won't give you a name right now, but we did have two excellent internal candidates that were the finalists. And then since our last meeting, you may have noticed the big changes that the GTC in downtown Fargo has been completely moved to the downtown engagement center, and that was not something that was planned. we've talked about that there were some structural problems but it was hoped that we could stay in that building a little bit longer and then in a visit to the building it was found that it was had more structural challenges than were originally thought and so within a two-week time span they had to completely move everything into the new location. And so credit to the staff for MapBus who really worked to make sure that that went as seamlessly as possible while still maintaining services. I wanted to thank the Indigenous Association for hosting another great Native American community picnic yesterday at MB Johnson Park. It's always a pleasure to have that in Moorhead and thank you for the support that we're able to provide for that event. And then I just wanted to take a minute to send my condolences to Councilmember Dave Steichen from Dilworth. Dilworth is a great partner with us just as our neighbor city, but a lot of us, we've really gotten to know the folks there from committees that we work on, from conferences we go to. And Dave is just a great person and he lost his wife very recently. And so I wanted to send my condolences to him and to his

to his family thank you any other reports councilmember moore

As the library representative, I just wanted to mention that there is an event this week. It's called A Novel Evening with Will Weaver, and there are tickets still available. It is this Thursday, August 27th from 6 to 9, and it is going to be at our beloved Rustica. So if you are interested in that, there are tickets available. All you have to do is Google A Novel Evening in Moorhead and it'll pop up for you. Thanks.

Thank you. Any other reports? I just have one thing I've been approached in the grocery stores and everyone else about the road construction and more hadn't especially about the roundabout. I just want to say please be patient. We're almost we're almost done. So at the end of August, you know, it's I know it's a pain, but just please be patient. They're working as hard as they can. So CITY MANAGER.

YES. THANK YOU. SO THE FINAL RIVER ARTS EVENT WAS LAST WEDNESDAY ON AUGUST 19TH. JUST WANTED TO THANK EVERYBODY. IT WENT OFF, IT WAS A HIT THE LAST NIGHT OF THE YEAR. SO THANK EVERYBODY THAT WAS HELPED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. THOSE WERE FUN MUSIC ACTIVITIES, ALL KINDS OF NEAT STUFF DOWN BY THE RIVER. But what's coming up next is Greater Moorhead Days on September 2nd to the 12th. So this is intended to be a celebration of this great community. There's a parade on September 4th. Before school, cruise night, there's a medallion hunt, kids' fest, sunset on the riverfront, other activities during Greater Moorhead Days. I said before school, I meant before school starts. Anyway, you know what I mean. There'll be folks out there. Just wanted to send a word out for the Moorhead Farmer's Market. So that's every Tuesday night at the parking lot at Trinity Lutheran Church from 3.30 to 6.30. So this is the time of the year where the produce is fresh and there's food at the market and music and the like on Tuesday nights, so if you come out. And then finally, I just wanted to mention this municipal pool. The season is officially in the books. Attendance was 11,000 people, more people this year than the last year on record. Average daily attendance was over 100 people, kids mostly, per day. and there was also a large increase in programming at the event. So that was all really wonderful to see. The splash pad runs until Labor Day and will be closed after that. The neighborhood wading pools, the last day was on August 9th and then there was the doggy dip on August 10th where there were 99 dogs in the water and dogs that didn't go in the water, so over 100 dogs this year, happy dogs. And so happy, I just say hats off to recreation director, Sean Brandenburg on that work, recreation supervisor, Melissa Disher, who's just absolutely incredible on her team for a great year. Thank you.

Thank you. Those doggy dips are a lot of fun. I just, we didn't bring our dogs because they wouldn't behave, but you know, for everybody else, it would have been good. So I don't think we have any new business. And with that, we're adjourned. Good night, Moorhead.