City Council - Special Meeting

This is not the forum for that.

All right. We will call the HRA meeting to order. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Norby? Here. Commissioner Woods? Here. Commissioner McKenzie? Here. Commissioner Schwer? Here. Chair Mungy?

Here. Thank you very much. May I have a motion to approve our last minutes? So moved. So moved. Council Member Woods? I mean, Commissioner Woods? Yep, Commissioner Woods, sorry. Second. Second. Commissioner McKenzie, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Thank you. All right. It's all you, Chief. Thanks, sir. So we have one action item on the docket tonight, but I think I'd like to first invite V.A. here from St. Paul College to discuss how things went this year and her thoughts moving forward, and then we'll talk about the contract for next year, this year and next year.

Awesome. Hi, everyone. My name is – hello. Thank you for having me. My name is V.A. Heyman-Barber. I am the Dean of Trade and Tech. And almost a year ago, I was standing here, not really sure what to expect. And I am so happy to say I think we had a wonderful build, a twin home this year. Many of you were at the open house, so thank you. We had about 100 people. from our students who one of their students brought their employer. Many students brought brothers, sisters, grandma, parents. We had an assortment of Toms who had worked on the project. I think it was four Toms that I counted. And our campus president as well as our CFO and so many people. It was really fun. So I do need some sharper scissors for the next one because that ribbon cutting was tough. You really do. I mean, it was great. I had a lot of help, but I'm so excited about this. I'm so excited about this next project. I'm so excited about this house. Both of the Toms are ready. We actually got a van, a 16 passenger van, to help transport the students. We are going to be hiring an additional staff member for about 20 to 25 hours to help out Tom in Carpentry in particular to help with installation to support the students, to reinforce safety. So we should be hiring that person in the next couple of weeks. So it's happening. We really love this partnership. I'm so excited to be here again. It sounds like things are going quite well. I keep an eye on the twin homes. I tell a lot of people about them. They're just so beautiful. It's my happy place. I am excited. We worked with the team on getting the contract signed. Thank you so much. I think it went quite a bit smoother. And this program makes a huge difference. It impacts students' lives and my life and the Toms in the area in so many different ways. So I'm really thankful to be here again. Hopefully this is one of many times. It's going to be two homes over two years. So we've got one really set. So hopefully this will be easy going into the next home.

How many students are involved this year?

I believe right now, so we have 24 students who started in our cabinet-making program, and we have about 17 in our cabinetry program. So a decent amount of students, for sure. And our cabinetry students actually come in the summer, so they take estimating, blueprint reading, and basic can tools. So they're ready to go. They really get that foundation so that they can really work on the project.

It's been been a great project and kids have been young adults been great to work with great finished product. Just so happy that you guys are here and it's worked out really well. And actually I asked Ron Ritchie to be here, our public works director who Ron and Randy help out quite a bit in the project. If you don't mind coming up and talking about it too, Ron will put you on the spot.

Did you fix the clock first or not?

Fixed. Oh man, you put me on the spot. I didn't prepare. It's probably better because I don't get my own head then. No, echo kind of what Brian said. It's a great partnership with St. Paul College. When we were transferring over from Century College to St. Paul College, we had a little bit of concerns because just because you need the right person and the right teacher to do something like this because you are building a house from the ground up and it just can't be a teacher. It needs to be someone that could step into the program, knew how to build the house from the ground up, and Tom is definitely that guy that could do that. So the transition went about as good as you could have asked it to go. We really did not have any big hiccups at all in the project, and for the first time doing a twin home that we've done, It was twice the work, so it worked out really well. It is a great program. It's a lot of work on our end to get the stuff rolling and going, but at the end of the day, it definitely, it's really cool to see the kids showing their parents and their brothers and their sisters and their aunts and uncles or whoever showed up, hey, look at what we did here. And standing in a home like that, finished brand new from what that corner used to look like to where we're at now, it's a great thing.

Absolutely. Thanks for all your guys' work here and Randy. I know you guys put a tremendous amount of work into that as well.

We couldn't do this program without you guys. You guys have been great. Appreciate it.

They are. So what we have in front of us tonight is, I'll go through the background and facts and we'll have the new contract for you guys to vote on. So the agreement would allow St. Paul College carpentry students and instructors supervision to perform framing, roofing related carpentry, windows, doors, siding, cabinets, and finished carpentry for the new home at 2119 Eldridge Avenue. The city HRA remains the general contractor responsible for all other construction, subcontractor permits, site preparations, utilities, foundation, and other project costs. The college work is targeted for completion probably late May, I'm guessing. May 14th is what we have down for a date here. We work with them on that, whatever needs to be done at the end of the year. The city HRA will pay the college $12,000 for its carpentry cabinet-making program after the project is complete. Both parties must maintain required insurance, including $1 million general liability and builder's risk coverage. THE COLLEGE PROVIDES A ONE-YEAR WARRANTY FOR THE STUDENT PERFORMED WORK. THE CITY AND HRA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OTHER CONSTRUCTION AND ASSOCIATED WARRANTIES. THE AGREEMENT PROVIDES AN EDUCATION BENEFIT FOR THE STUDENTS WHILE HELPING CONSTRUCT A NEW RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. So staff recommends City Council approve the residential construction contract between the City of North St. Paul and the North St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority and the State of Minnesota by through the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities on behalf of St. Paul College. So looking for a motion on that.

Any questions before we get a motion?

Very good. If not, can I have a motion, please?

So moved.

So moved. Councilmember, I mean, what's the call again? Commissioner. Commissioner McKenzie. Second, Commissioner Norby. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? We're good.

We went through that rather fast. Yes. That's all we have for you for the HRA meeting. The last HRA meeting, we did go into closed session. That was over the potential purchase of another property. We have not done a final on that yet, so more to come on the next HRA meeting.

All right. It is 6.08. I'll ask for adjournment, and then we'll be back at 6.30. Chairman? So moved. So moved. Second.

Commissioner Norby? Second. Commissioner Woods?

All those in favor say aye. Aye.

Thank you. See you then. Thank you.