City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, you know what? I don't need any of it, by the way. I have my notebook today. I remembered my notebook today.

All right. Good evening, everyone. It is September 14th, 2026. It's 531 p.m.. I am Mayor Shelly Carlson. 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 would like to address the council during the meeting, you'll need to fill out a form provided by our city clerk and we will call you up during the citizen to citizens to address the council item on the agenda. You'll need to state your name and if you're a Moorhead resident. If comments were submitted to the clerk prior to the meeting via email or phone, those comments will be entered into record. For more information on participation, please visit the council meetings page on the City of Moorhead website at moorheadmn.gov. We the Moorhead City Council collectively and with gratitude acknowledge the sacred land the City of Moorhead is built upon. We acknowledge that people have resided here for generations and recognize that the spirit of the Dakota, Ojibwe, Métis, and all indigenous communities permeate this land. With that, could I get a roll call, please?

Ryan Nelson.

Here.

Nicole Mattson.

Here.

Heather Niesmeyer. Here. Emily Moore. Here. Deb White. Here. Lisa Borgen. Here. Sebastian McDougal.

Here.

Chuck Hendrickson. Mayor Shelly Carlson.

Here. And for those who are able, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. All right, and do we have any agenda amendments?

We have no amendments to the agenda tonight, Mayor.

All right, and then moving on to consent agenda, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved, Niesemeyer.

Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Moving on to recognitions and presentations, we have three tonight. The first one is our Morehart recognition, and I will turn this over to Ms. Lisa Bodie.

Thank you, Mayor Carlson. I'm bringing the Morehart selection from the committee to the council tonight, and the committee has selected a nomination of Tyler Schroeder, who works with homeless youth at Lakes and Prairies Community Action Partnership. Tyler is being honored tonight for his advocacy for his clients, and in the nomination, Jessica Jungroth, who is a coworker of Tyler's, wrote in the nomination that Tyler consistently goes above and beyond in his work advocating for vulnerable youth. And what really stood out and is timely in Tyler's application is some information that was really interesting about that through his position, Tyler gives his clients the resources they need to ensure that their voices are heard in our elections. He's been able to build relationships and become a trusted voice of support and consistently taking steps to ensure his clients are equipped to manage the challenges that they face. So we're excited to honor Tyler tonight for his dedication in ensuring that even the most vulnerable residents of our community can be part of the democratic process. So I'd like to thank Tyler.

Thank you, I'm very honored to receive this and be recognized for the work that I've done at CAP LP so far and I thank you all.

I think given the fact that you didn't say a whole lot really shows your humbleness and how much you just deeply care for others. So thank you, though, for all you do. It's really what makes Morehead just so proud to have people like you working in our community and helping others. So the next item on the agenda is a swearing in and badge pinning for Morehead police officers. And I'll turn this over to Chief Helmick.

TODAY, EXCUSE ME, HAS BEEN A RANGE OF EMOTIONS FOR US. SORRY. THIS MORNING AS A DEPARTMENT, WE I told myself I wasn't going to do this, but I'll get through it. We laid to rest Detective Jeff Larson, who passed away recently of cancer. He retired a few years ago. Actually, I didn't even meet Jeff. I hate to admit that, but it's still an emotional event for all of us. And any time we lose a member, even a former member of our family, it's an emotional event for all of us. With that, we're going to move on to happier things. Before I do that, though, I do want to express my condolences to Jeff's family. I know that's been a tough road for them. We're here to support them if they need us. But like I said, we're going to move on to happier things tonight and go the opposite direction in our motions. We're here to swear in five new members of our department. If you've been keeping track, it seems like our scorecard keeps changing here. This brings us to one opening. Tomorrow we're going to go to two openings. We have an officer that's leaving us, unfortunately, but he's moving closer to family, and we wish him nothing but the best. But regardless, we are certainly focusing our efforts on recruiting to fill those two spots, as well as trying to front load for our planned retirements that are coming up here in 2027. In order to do that, we've been working really hard at recruiting lateral officers. We've also been hitting the fall cycle of career fairs that are going on right now. And we're also going to be bringing on some new cadets. So future's looking very bright for the department. With that, you know, speaking of a bright future, this group that we're swearing in tonight has all spent time as cadets with our department, and they just recently completed their skills training. And some also benefited from the state's Pathways to Policing program, which we are very grateful for to have that in place. And that allows a lot more people to have access to this profession and definitely is a key piece in getting folks to the point where they are tonight. so as i mentioned we're really excited about having this group you know all the groups that we bring in to square in have been phenomenal but this group really seems to have a high level of energy and positivity and i hope that's infectious and they're going to be some really strong additions to an already excellent team I'd also really like to say that I'm grateful that they chose to work for our department and serve this community. We know there's a lot of choices out there, but we are really excited to have them choose us, and we're going to do our very best to make sure that we meet their expectations. So with that, I'm going to introduce our five newest officers. I'm going to start off with Officer Jose Luis Perez IV. Come on in, Jose. Jose is from Perham, Minnesota, and attended M State Community and Technical College. He brings valuable experience from his work as a correctional officer in Laredo, Texas, including serving on the Correctional Emergency Response Team. Jose enjoys sports, working out, fishing, and drawing, and is bilingual in English and Spanish. He's eager to gain experience and work towards becoming a strong and trusted police officer for the Morehead community. Tonight, Jose will have his badge pinned on by his mom, Maria. Maria, can you come up? And I'll have you step in front of yours. No pressure.

And for those who are wanting to take pictures that are friends and family here, you can get up. You don't have to stay in your seat. So you can get up and you can come closer if you wanted to get pictures of the badge pinning.

All right, next up, we have Officer Paxton Roloff. All right, Paxton is from Hancock, Minnesota. He graduated from North Dakota State University. He brings experience from residential construction and work at the West Central Regional Juvenile Center, where he strengthened his teamwork and communication skills. Paxton enjoys golfing, woodworking, and following Minnesota professional sports. Good day to be a Vikings fan, I might add. He looks forward to giving back to the Morag community and making a positive impact as part of the department. And you'll have his badge pinned on tonight by his mom, Mackenzie. Can I have Mackenzie come up? Next up, we have Officer Jack Sanders. Jack is from Bloomington, Minnesota, where he studied at the Hennepin Technical College before joining the Moorhead Police Department. He has a background in security, loss prevention, and sports EMT work, which has helped him develop a strong foundation in service and situational awareness. Outside of work, Jack enjoys, hopefully I can pronounce this, Mai Tai? Moi Tai? Forgive me. MMA and spending time with loved ones. He's excited to continue learning, gain experience, and build trusted relationships within the community. Today, he's going to have his badge pinned on by his dad, Tim. Don't forget mom. All right, next we have Officer Jackson Score. All right, Jackson is a Morehead native and University of North Dakota graduate. His experience includes landscaping, snow removal, and coaching hockey at Cullen Force Academy, where he developed strong leadership and mentorship skills. Jackson enjoys spending time at the lake, staying active, and being with family and friends. He looks forward to gaining experience, building relationships, and contributing to the community he calls home. Tonight, he'll have his badge pinned on by his mom, Sarah. All right, last but not least, we have Officer Ellie strike. Ellie is originally from Stuart, Minnesota, and graduated from North Dakota State University. She previously worked at Center Inc. in Fargo, gaining valuable experience in supporting individuals through challenging situations. Ellie enjoys spending time outdoors with family, friends, and her energetic German short-haired pointer. She looks forward to building strong connections within the board community and growing her skills within the department. Tonight, she'll have her badge pinned on by her dad, Scott. All right, if we could have the recruits take up your spots here in front of the podium. Now we'll turn it over to the mayor.

So I'm gonna do this a little bit unconventionally tonight. Usually I speak to the officers, but this is something that the more I thought about it, the more that I think this goes to their friends and family and other folks that might just be listening. Because all of these recruits, as you've heard from our chief, they come very, very well qualified and they've been through a lot of training, but there's additional qualifications that I don't think people quite think about. Just really thank you all for coming here tonight and I'm just going to talk to you a little bit about some of the other qualifications when I not think about with a police officer. A police officer has to be able to run miles through alleys in the dark, scale walls, enter homes a health inspector wouldn't go into, all while wearing 20 plus pounds of equipment. The officer must be able to sit in a car during surveillance all day, covering a homicide scene that night, canvass a neighborhood for witnesses and be able to show up in court the very next day to testify about a year-old case, remembering all the details on little or no sleep. A police officer must be in top physical condition on black coffee, Mountain Dew, or a random energy drink they picked up, and half eaten meals frequently consumed in their squad car in less than five minutes. Police officer needs to have three pairs of eyes. One that sees through a bulge in the coat pocket before asking, may I see what's in there? Already knowing what's in there and maybe wishing they would have taken that accounting job. A second pair of eyes on either side of their head to look out for his or her partner's safety. And a third pair of eyes in front to be able to look, reassuring at a bleeding victim and say, you're gonna be okay, even when they know they're not. Sorry, thinking about Officer Larson. A police officer must be able to talk a 250-pound intoxicated and combative individual into a squad car without incident and raise a family on a civil service paycheck. The officer must be able to tell you the elements of 100 different crimes, recite the Miranda warning in their sleep, detain, investigate, search and arrest a criminal on the street in less time than it takes five judges to debate the legality of the arrest. and somehow keep a positive outlook and maintain a sense of humor. A police officer must have phenomenal personal control. They must be able to deal with horrific, graphic crime scenes, coax confessions from pedophiles, come for a sexual assault victim, know the names, numbers, and services of dozens of community resources, and respond to chance interactions with police or with the public with friendliness and a ready smile at all times. Each member of our Moorhead Police Department is a member of an elite group of individuals who swear to honor, serve, and protect the citizens of Moorhead. So for all of these attributes and for all of their willingness and all of our officers' willingness to serve, I personally want to thank you. The community thanks you. You are all deeply appreciated, and I'm grateful for every one of you. Now with that, you want to raise your right hand and I and then state your name. Do solemnly swear that I will support and comply with the Constitution of the United States of America. The Constitution and laws of the state of Minnesota. The charter laws and ordinances of the city of Moorhead. the policies and procedures of the Moorhead Police Department and the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties as police officer to the best of my ability. I further pledge that on my honor, I will never betray my badge my integrity, my character, or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold my community and the agency I serve. Congratulations and welcome to the Morton Police Department. All right, next on the agenda is a presentation from United Way of Cast Clay. And I'm not sure who is here to present on that.

Lead giver on giving, Dan Klug, is here. And Michelle is, yeah, let's do it.

Feel free to come up to the podium.

Must be some volume issues back there.

everybody yeah come on down for the united way just like the price is right all right it's good to see you thanks for well good evening everyone mayor carlson council members it's great to be with you my name is dan klug i work with the united way of cast clay part of the team there and we really appreciate you allowing us to again present to you and present really to our community um as you know the united way of cast clay serves Cass and Clay County. And we do that by trying to really inspire and activate our community members to come together and be united to help solve some of our challenges and our problems in our community. And we do this by, through that unity, convening leaders such as yourself, corporate leaders, community and nonprofit leaders, and donors to look at the societal problems, look at the data, and then come up with strategies that really can help alleviate and minimize some of the challenges or help empower and equip individuals to overcome the challenges they're facing, especially for families and individuals experiencing poverty or living just right at that poverty level. They may not meet the government standards for poverty, but they are literally one transmission or one health issue away from really having some financial difficulties. And so by doing that, we're able to then invest in nearly 30 nonprofits in the community strategically to make sure that we can address, one, preventing hunger and homelessness, preparing children to succeed, and then strengthening families. And this last year, I'm proud to report that through that collaborative effort of so many civic leaders, community donors, corporate leaders, we've been able to have some tremendous impacts In Cass and Clay County, because of the funding and the generosity and the strategies put together, we were able to put out there 5.6 million pounds of food distributed to families and individuals. Over 73,000 packets of food that were distributed to children in our two counties. nearly 78, it's 77,958 if we want to get specific, shelter nights were provided for those struggling with homelessness. And that could be a temporary house or housing, but then we also know that there are those that we're addressing that are truly homeless and not couch surfing, but are literally out in the elements. We've created United End Homelessness Program, which Mayor Carlson and the other mayors in the community all endorsed and supported last year. And that's been really strategic and impactful in helping those highest risk, highest cost individuals for our communities to get the support and the collaborative and coordinated services they need to truly get and break out of that cycle. A cycle that can be very difficult to get out of. Brandy is a resident of Moorhead, Minnesota. A young woman that through some challenges in life, decisions and circumstances, fell into homelessness. And it took her 1,378 days to get out of it. And she said, I did not want to be there. And 99% or more of the people, the homeless people that she came in contact did not want to be homeless. But the circumstances are so overwhelming. There was not that immediate friend or family support. And so it truly took a community coming together Through the United Way and strategically through many organizations, we are so fortunate and blessed to have so many tremendous nonprofits in our community that are able to give the services and the support to help an individual navigate that system and to be able to get out of homelessness and now have a sustaining, productive, and fruitful life. Over 628 children received early childhood development access. That is so important to be able to get to kindergarten, kindergarten ready. And so often if you're living in a lower income, you maybe don't have the access or able to afford those opportunities. And so again, the funding that you all give. Over 666 students were connected to a positive mentor. So as they're going through school, they're able to get that mentorship and that support so much needed. That has statistically proven to drive down absenteeism, which is actually a growing concern among Morehead and the North Dakota schools in our community. They're seeing a rise on that. So, so important to get in that. Food scarcity continues to be an issue, and mental health is a rising concern. More than 2,600 children gained access to mental health because of you all and other members in our community generously giving and investing, and then as that money strategically goes to the right organizations. as you start your city of morehead employee campaign and raising money but even to the entire morehead community just invite you to participate and come in and help our neighbors thrive so that if someone does fall into homelessness or have hunger or has some needs they're able to get the services they need so that challenge can be experienced briefly and hopefully only one time

so thank you are there any questions i can try to ask or to defer to uh one of my more well-informed colleagues thank you so much dan united way just does such a tremendous or has such a tremendous impact in our community and i know you really support so many organizations that you probably wouldn't even be able to name half of the ones that you support just off the top of your head but are there any questions from any council members at all

Well, thank you.

Thank you so much. Thanks for coming tonight Next is the approval of the August 24th 2026 meeting minutes. You have a motion to approve so moved second motion on second any discussion Seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed that motion carries Do we have any citizens the audience who wish to dress the council at this time? All right, see none. Go down to 18A, and this is a resolution to approve consent to the Clay County Housing Redevelopment Authority 2027 Special Benefit Tax, and I will turn this over to Don Bacon.

Hi, I'm Dara Lee, the executive director of the Clay County Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Thank you, Mayor Carlson, council members, for allowing me to come today. As you just heard the great work that United Way and their entities do, we try and attack many of the same issues, but we're actually a local unit of government. And so we're not a nonprofit, we're a local unit of government. And unfortunately, as you all know, to operate local units of government, you sometimes have to levy taxes. And the HRA has its own independent authority to levy. it the maximum we could be levying this year would be 1 million 875 000 or so um however our board has been very conservative uh throughout the years and the amount that we levy so our board has levied but because they are not elected we need to receive the consent of the elected officials in our communities. The Clay County Commission, the Morehead City Council, since you do have a Morehead Public Housing Agency, and the city of Barnesville, since they also have the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. we are requesting the consent to the $300,000 levy. Last year I came up here and desperately grabbed the mic away from Dawn Bacon because she talked about us generating over 26 times the funding with the levy amount. And I was like, we will not promise that in the future. BUT I CAN PROMISE I FEEL COMFORTABLE NOW AT LEAST 15 TIMES THE AMOUNT THAT WE LEVY. BECAUSE THROUGH THE YEARS, THE HRA HAS ACTUALLY LEVIED A TOTAL OF SLIGHTLY LESS THAN WHAT OUR ONE YEAR MAX IS. SO IN 51 YEARS WE HAVE LEVIED A LITTLE OVER $1.8 MILLION. But through those funds, we are now generating $4.5 million on an annual basis that this levy helps to support. And those programs are specifically targeted at ending homelessness for children in our community, primarily that. And it's also used for some rehabilitation work. So we've done about... 13 million in rehab work that we've leveraged with these levy funds in addition to the ongoing money. About half of that has been within the city of Moorhead and half of it in the remainder of Clay County. We also have used levy funds to generate recurring funding of about $2.5 million that no longer needs the support of the levy. But for this $4.5 million that we have generated through the levy, We do need this critical resource. It's under 2%. It's like 1.6% or something of our total budget. We're currently utilizing about $18 million a year in our attempts to increase the supply of affordable housing in our community. or just preserve what we have. We all know it's a huge unmet need, but we are requesting for that consent in order to at least keep the programs we have been able to successfully bring in through using these funds.

All right. Are there any questions from council members? Council Member White.

Thank you, Mayor. Some of my comments will be similar to things I said before. I mean, this is such a small amount. In fact, I know looking at what we know what our median home value is in Moorhead is in the $250,000 range. So we're talking about $7 a year. Correct. So if anything, I would think I would support more, you know, because I think this is really needed. And I appreciate it also that this will be going, a lot of this will be going to work on preventing homelessness among children. And, you know, the number of kids that we have living in shelters, or otherwise unhoused is really frightening. And anything that we can do in that area is really important. And then security, too. And I know just from even some of the things that have happened in my ward recently, when people don't feel safe, you know, particularly I've heard this from seniors because of other issues, ongoing issues. And so doing things to add to the security will be tremendously impactful. So I fully support it. And again, you know, I would support a little bit more in the future even. So, and thank you for your work on this.

Thank you. Any other questions from Council? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion to pass this item.

So moved, Deb White. Second, Lisa Meyer.

Motion and second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That motion carries. Thank you so much, Dara and Don, both of you for coming. And best of luck.

Thank you. We appreciate you all.

Thank you for all you do.

all right moving on to mayor and council reports are any council members have reports from boards or committees you serve on council member nice mayor thank you madam mayor um i appreciate going first uh with some updates from our morehead public housing authority we met on tuesday august 25th and at the field crest town homes which is in the south part of town And we had some great conversation and some great opportunities. There were a lot of conversations around the repairs that are necessary following a fire at Riverview. I know I shared that it was a very destructive fire, lots of safety and concerns, and gosh darn it, elevators are absolutely necessary. And so the loss of both of the elevators in the high rise really caused an opportunity for staff to shine and so my appreciation a second or maybe third time to those who made it a supportive and less frustrating situation for our residents. We also had conversations around capital needs and forward movement, but with those repairs in mind, we are really looking forward to input from residents and that will be a driving force on what we choose to do and what we get ideas from at the board level moving forward. The airport committee met the following day on August 26th. I had like a whole week of meetings, so now we've got them all. We had an opportunity to put forward the Mead and Hunt Airport Engineering, which was on our consent agenda today, so thank you everybody for supporting that movement forward. But more importantly, maybe, maybe not, we've got a really great event coming up this weekend, and it is Girls in Aviation Day. We are not having a fly-in and drive-in, but we do have a Women in Aviation International event on Saturday, September 19th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and it is at Moorhead Airport or Florence Klingensmith Field. So please grab your family. It is a free, family-friendly event. There will be activities, exploration, and a whole bunch of activities, not just for the ladies, but for all members of the family, young and old. So please stop out this weekend to the airport to say hi and learn a little bit more about aviation as a profession as well as a little bit more about our Moorhead Municipal Airport. The opportunity I had to meet with the Minnesota Cities Climate Coalition was on August 27th. I did a presentation that was titled Engaging Residents Through Commissions, Task Forces, and Non-City Venues, and that was around our opportunities that we've had for a great deal of resident engagement, and one that helped us, Clay County, yield $2.5 million grant for organics recycling, which is taking off any minute now. The Clay County Extension Committee met on Wednesday, September 9th. We were able to discuss highlights from summer programs from 4-H, that includes the county fair as well, summer camps, Master Gardener programming, Flutter Fest, you may recall I mentioned that is a Master Gardener program that is supported by the extension branch as well as a number of people and entities in our community, including the city of Moorhead. We also explored programs at the agricultural and natural resource level, which there was a new program this year, which I thought may be of interest to residents in Moorhead. There was an early childhood care center gardening program. It went really well, and they are looking on expanding that program to more childcare centers and having more um outreach and exploring how things grow seed starting growing food and doing some sensory learning with the youngest of the young in our community and so i think that just is an absolute um highlight of the clay county extension committee and if you want to be part of the clay county extension committee you're in luck we have openings and so if you would like to reach out to myself for that application or the clay county extension office please feel free to do so via email or social media there is an application it's short concise but i can help anybody who is interested fill out that form so we can get you on the list for the committee to review applications and set send a recommendation forward to the clay county commission in the coming months um i would like to last meeting oh clay county nope cast clay food commission um the cast clay food commission met on wednesday september 9th and i know i've been chatting about it a little bit for a long time because ufta the city of moorhead was highlighted and we did such a great job people were in awe and i know you're not surprised because we have outstanding staff but My thanks want to go out to City Manager Molly, Christy Leshefsky, our Community Development Director, Paul Feigner, our Public Works Director, and the two presenters that we had were Ethan Jonk, our Assistant City Planner, and Trent Wise, our City Forester. They went through so many things. I've got nine items listed. To highlight, people were really in awe of how we were able to build from the ground up, from community organizing and interest building around the M.B. Johnson Food Forest. There was a lot of energy also around the continuing of exploring food as an accessible item in our parks, like the Reimagine Rompke project. which has some fruit trees right along 20th Street. When you drive by, you should be able to see them. They do not have fruit yet. No, it'll take a couple of years. But Trent Wise was really able to talk about the variety and the diversity that was selected strategically for MB Johnson and wonderful opportunities to explore. we went over the development of policies to support individual and community projects such as native landscapes rain gardens local food production and pollinators and that's directly out of our onward moorhead comprehensive plan from 2022 and it's always nice to see rather than plans just going on the shelf that they're actually being put into action and so ethan was able to review our green step cities and how we are not just a level four but we're also a level five and continuing to be awesome each and every year we went over backyard chickens not only our policy how it initially came to be but the review and limitations and feedback and how we were able to change our policy based on resident feedback and challenges that were discovered throughout the policymaking procedure. One of my favorites was highlighted, and many other municipal folks in the room, by the way, the Cass Clay Food Commission is seven entities that get together and hang out every other month. If you want to come and hang out with us, let me know. I'll let you know where our meetings are. And the community garden programs was really a highlight that folks were really interested in hearing about and wanted to do that too. So the community garden programs momentum you can just appreciate the city of morehead for that because that's outstanding the urban woods and prairie initiatives pocket prairies and natural policy or natural planting policy code changes were highlighted because we have residents who are really interested in that change and we're doing great things with states the state lawns to legumes grant project and so we updated our code to be able to match that and also our very own mpca climate action grant which helped reforest some of the red and do some really great planting projects in the city and so i had so many meetings and so much to cover and it was an outstanding last six weeks and so i want to appreciate the officers who were sworn in tonight and the dedication to service that they and their families are now having for the city of Moorhead. And with that, I am done.

Thank you. Council Member White.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a few things that I've attended that I wanted to highlight. On the 27th, I toured a Place for Hope Recovery and Wellness Center. I know a few of you had the opportunity to do that earlier. They are now the largest food pantry in Clay County, so I think really appropriate given our conversations tonight. They mentioned that they are now serving 75 to 100 families every day, which is double what they had been doing previously they currently don't receive any county funds for their food pantry they do receive some for their mental health support and so city manager molly i'm going to have a few questions for you of you know i think it would be great if there's ways that we could support but also individually if there's ways that any of you I know my running group is gonna do a food drive this month to make a donation. On the fourth, I attended the Greater Moorhead Days Parade and the Welcome Week Social, and I wanted to just highlight this because this was the five-year anniversary of when we started the Welcome Week Social. When I was on Human Rights Commission five years ago, and Sihama Mehdi was the chair, she brought this idea, we were talking about the fact that we had Welcome Week events that tended to really just be almost exclusively New American community members, and then Greater Moorhead days, which the parade tended to be people who have lived here their whole life. and we really wanted to do things that celebrated our entire community, and so we put together these two events. First of all, recruiting people to be in the parade, and so we now, we've been doing this for five years, we now have folks who previously had never even attended the Greater Moorhead Days Parade, folks from our New American and other underrepresented communities that are now active participants in the Greater Moorhead Days Parade, And then we have a big celebration afterwards. And it's always one of my favorite events of the year. And so I wanted to thank Cihama Mehdi for really being the heart and driving force behind it, to the planning committee members, and to our city park staff who helped bring everything there, including the blocks. Those foam blocks are a huge hit. And then on the 10th, I attended the longest table. that is i'm on the board for cap lp and that's actually now cap lp has taken over the longest table event and um it's a great opportunity for people to have a communal meal meet some new people and have great conversations about morehead what we're doing well what we could do better and i want to thank trinity lutheran church for hosting And then I just wanted to mention, as Greater Moorhead Days is winding down, another Greater Moorhead Days event that'll be this Saturday the 19th is the Red River Run at MB Johnson Park. It's a trail run. It's a great opportunity to get out there and see our beautiful trails that we have in that park, but it's a fundraiser for Hope Inc. So you can have a great day and support one of our great local nonprofit organizations that provides adaptive sport and play equipment for folks of all ages with people with disabilities. And that's it, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson.

YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE THAT UPDATE, MAYOR, ON THE OTHER ONE. I APOLOGIZE. BUT JUST AN UPDATE FOR AN EVENT COMING UP TOMORROW AFTERNOON OR, EXCUSE ME, TOMORROW EVENING, 5 TO 8 P.M., THE BRAND LAUNCH FOR WHAT WAS FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SOCIETY OF CLAY COUNTY. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE NEWS, I'LL SAY NOT WEAVE. THE ORGANIZATION HAS BRANDED TO A NEW NAME, THE CLAY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. SO GO TO THEIR WEBSITE, CHECK OUT THEIR NEW NAME, THE NEW BRANDING. SO 5 TO 8 P.M. HERE AT THE IMCOM CENTER. AND OUR VERY OWN DEB WHITE WILL BE LEADING US OFF. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LEAD US OFF TOMORROW NIGHT? OK, OK, alright, dad's not going to be leading us off so that changed. But 5 to 8 PM tomorrow night so. Chief Helmick, I think said it all for me. I won't be able to get through it, so thank you.

Any other council members have reports council member more?

Thank you Madam Mayor, just a couple of. Board meeting, so I want to touch base on. So on August 27th we had our park board meeting and we reviewed our capital improvement plan and our proposed 2027 fee schedule. Fun fact out of that meeting is we had an 11K increase in attendance at the Romkee Park pool. So it went from 18,000 in 2024 to 29,000 this past summer. Raging success, I would say. We also had our Economic Development Authority meeting and another raging success. We were told from our Morehead Business Association was that the businesses involved in tour de cons really felt. greatly supported by our community and i really appreciated everything we did so thank you to everyone who participated in that and went out and supported our local businesses and we are past our preliminary budget and we are also looking we're really looking hard at ways to better support our local businesses because we address the fact that we see them struggling and we want to keep what we have here in moorhead moving on to library board which i had on september 8th I wanted to let everybody know that September is library card sign up month. So if you don't have a library card, go get one, but it probably won't be a problem for you because over 50% of the folks in Moorhead already have one, which is an incredible statistic for our community and much to do with our fantastic library. And also that September 19th, we're in competition with you, Council Member Neusmeier for your airport events. But if you would prefer the library over the airport, or maybe you can fit both in if you just do flybys at both. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Minnesota Libraries Read Together event is going to be happening. I know that our mayor will be speaking there as well as Senator Kupak. So come on out and participate in Minnesota Libraries Read Together this Saturday, September 19th from 10 to 2. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Other council members? Okay, for my mayor update, there are a number of events and different meetings that I attended on behalf of the city representing the city. First was Senator Smith, Tina Smith lives in town. She was very instrumental in helping get some federal funding we needed for 11th Street and so she was here in town on September 2nd and toured 11th Street. Council Member White was also there and I don't know that there were other council members that were available to be there that day. She was very impressed and it should be opening soon. We'll just say soon, before the end of the year for sure. And First Link had an open house that we were all invited to and they are over in Fargo but they do provide services here in Clay County. All of Moorhead, all of Clay County and Cass County and they have a suicide hotline, it's 988. So if you or anyone you know is having CONCERNS OR CHALLENGES OR HAVING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, PLEASE GIVE THEM A CALL FIRST AND FOREMOST. THEY ARE A 24-HOUR SERVICE AND THERE ARE A LOT OF FOLKS THAT WORK IN THAT LOCATION. AS COUNCILMEMBER MOORE TALKED ABOUT, IT IS MINNESOTA LIBRARIES READ TOGETHER MONTH. read a couple of stories to some kids during a story time not that long ago. And usually when I've done this, there's only been maybe two, maybe three kids. I think there were at least a dozen kids at the story time this time, which really shows that people are utilizing our library services There were tons of parents and grandparents there, and after story time, they all just walked across the second floor of the loop, and then they went over and started playing in the indoor playground area. I also spoke at the Justice North Ribbon Cutting. This is the new name for Northwest Legal Services. They've merged with Northeast Legal Services. They're now Justice North, so that is a civil legal organization that now covers 33 counties, basically the entire half of Texas. northern Minnesota, and it is an organization that offers free or very low charges to individuals who are needing civil legal representation in issues such as housing, guardianship, conservatorship, protection orders, elder justice law, possibly some divorces. When you're charged with a criminal crime, you have a right to have an attorney, not so with civil law, and that's where legal services comes into play. Our legal services here in town has been in existence for 50 years, so I just want to extend a lot of gratitude and appreciation for the work that they do for so many individuals here in Clay County. I also wanted to thank Crystal Sugar for allowing Sunset on the Riverfront to be held in their parking lot again and on their lawn going down to the river, and Folkways for helping put that really, really successful night together to bring community one last time. It seems like it's the last big event at the end of the summer, and there were so many people. It was an absolutely beautiful night. And then last but not least, we had an employee appreciation night, or lunch, and just wanted to give a shout out to all the 300 plus employees that work for the city of Moorhead. You are the backbone of the work that is being done in the city and cannot extend enough appreciation and gratitude for all the tireless work that you do behind the scenes, answering the phone calls, doing the emails, all of the things that really just keep us being able to get up and go to work and do whatever we do every single day and not have to really think about it. And then last but not least, just want to send our condolences to Tracy Larson. uh jeff's wife and her family jeff was a police officer and detective with our police department for over two decades he did a lot of work within the community and at his funeral this morning there were a lot of federal officers and u.s attorneys attending because he worked a lot of drug cases and he really truly made our community safer so just thank you to jeff and his wife tracy said this morning that he didn't like a lot of people or a lot of crowds and she thinks that he's the one who ordered the rain because he thought it maybe would keep people away from his funeral but i can tell you it didn't so i guess maybe the joke's on him so that's all i have and i'll turn it over to you city manager molly thank you mayor

Boy, I think I'll start by, if it's okay, mentioning this Women in Aviation event at the airport and what makes this place so special. So Florence Klingensmith was born on September 3rd in 1903, and so that would make her 122 a week ago Thursday, which is kind of interesting. For people that don't know, she was one of the co-founders of the 99s, which were the first 100 women that were pilots. There are hundreds and hundreds of chapters across the country and the world at this point. One of the things that's interesting that folks don't know is that a lot of members of the 99s, when they're flying across this area, they'll do a touchdown in Moorhead and then kind of come up as an honor to her. It's one of the only airports in the entire United States and world that is named after a woman. And a couple of other little fun facts. So she was known, her nickname was Tree Tops because she flew so low. And she was also a person who held the world record in 1931 for number of continuous loops. She did, I think it was like 1,031 loops. Someone should fact check me on that. but continuous loops, over 1,000 of them, I mean, in the world record. So one of the many people from Moorhead that hold world records on stuff. So it's really neat that we used to have a fly-in, and now it's the way these programs evolve. So the library event is going to be very special, and I'm sure there's a number of world records who knows what our library is going to be named after someday. I'll say that. So Saturday should be a lot of neat things happening. Everyone is invited to open house at the fire department at Station 1 on Tuesday, September 22nd from 5 to 7. Everyone is all are welcome to this family-friendly evening. And people are going to have a chance to meet firefighters, explore the station, learn about fire safety, check out equipment, and maybe get a better understanding of all the work that they do to keep our community safe. And then finally, in election and information on voting news, I'm going to encourage people to go to the City of Moorhead's election web page. Folks can, there's this ward precinct finder on there, so people can find their polling location, maps as to where to go, registration information, and all sorts of other election resources as we get ready for the general election on November 3rd, and early voting opportunities ahead of that. So, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. And we do not have an executive session tonight, and we do not have any new business. So it is 6.31. And for that, we're adjourned. So good night, Moorhead.