Remarks by Nick Miller
52 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 3
- Play at 1:38:00
“I guess I'm not ready to support the motion that's presented, but I am closer to where Council President Shubring has expressed an interest in considering how this project continues with a look at Zone C further airport operation coordination and a little more time to understand if this is a workable solution. But I would be inclined to see this move forward with some additional carve outs and clarification of the number of blasting events per year.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:03:50
“Just a question, I noticed most of the applications are for operational support, with one exception for purchase of assets. Are these typically new programs that these organizations are proposing, they're ongoing operations, and what other funding sources do they rely on?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:04:18
“but they do tend to be ongoing programs whether funded or not.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:28:10
“Yeah, I'll echo that. I think we've had a nice time to review this at multiple points, make reasonable changes, find alternative funding sources for the IndyPath home request. And should there be a motion to come forward to alter the contingency, I'm not going to be supportive of that.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 22:22
“Council member Miller sure this is a related question since you've mentioned a couple of times that new evaluation absorbs increase in tax levy. 1st. We had a presentation earlier this year from urban 3 that implicate that can. contemplated some potential strategic investments or strategic directions to improve the efficiency of our tax base. How might we continue to think about engaging with that process as we look forward into the projections of city needs?”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 30:39
“Sorry, just before we move on to enterprise funds, could you go back to municipal rec? And I just wanted to ask a question about the first bullet point to start. One of the assumptions and concepts of how the pro forma moves forward with that is that it's largely tax levy, not relying on the tax levy. Does that continue to be the case? And how is that 2.7 million increase for the regional sports complex fit in with that philosophy that had been part of the discussions of”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 31:22
“But someone's seeing this, right, who said these weren't supposed to cost the tax levy anymore. Is that still the assumption?”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 31:48
“And then a question about the increased monitoring and maintenance of picnic shelters and restroom facilities with RPD. Just curious about why other areas of the park aren't part of that focus of the parks. Like maybe those are recreational facilities, parking lots. I mean, how does that factor in? And maybe this is a question for RPD.”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 32:59
“I have as well, but I've actually heard more about parking lots and some dangerous activity, particularly at Soldiers Field Park, cars driving through the track, driving through other places. And I just bring that up because there's been a lot more activity in the tennis courts, basketball courts and other areas, which is great. But there have been additional complaints or issues that I've heard arising from some of that activity. And I just want to make sure that when we talk about what we're focusing on, that we're not missing an opportunity to be just present in the parks generally and not…”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 34:42
“I wouldn't suspect that there is either. It's more around the erratic driving and sort of car culture perhaps of some use of some of the parking lots in the evening hours.”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 40:01
“in 2027 so that's the downturn of the six and a half million there as well uh councilmember miller uh related to that lead service line program do you plan to come back to us with a a modified plan to address those lead service lines that would then not be eligible because the the funding is less than we anticipated that's a great question um i think our pathway there would be continued state and federal advocacy for lead service line funds”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 54:44
“I guess I have a question about this slide on the third bullet point, which says an opt-in approach is generally preferred for building an engaged and sustainable subscriber list. Is that a best practice among governments or is that just in general with communications and marketing tools?”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 55:34
“Okay. I'll just say from my perspective, and I know this has been said before, but I think that I would feel that way in general. If I were making a purchase at a local retailer and they started emailing me, I might feel one way. But when I want to hear from the city, and I've heard the same from residents, that proactive city communication that is actionable, relevant to the space, and contextual geographically, I think is a service that many residents would appreciate that I wouldn't expect to fit into that assessment. I think that's true. I've given money once to a nonprofit or something.…”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 57:30
“OK, I think that's a fair point. Are all of these tools able to geographically understand where people fall in the city, understanding that some communication is relevant to an area versus citywide communication? Does opted in or a topical opt in?”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 1:03:58
“I just add, I mean, to the question of opting in, I mean, we send mailings to citywide, Summer of Fun. We opt people into receiving that. We send postcards for neighborhood information meetings. We opt people into receiving those. And we hear from people who have reduced postal service or other access or change of address forms as reasons they don't see that physical mailing. And I don't suspect that this is a catch-all either, but as we see communication tools modernized, it does feel like an area of opportunity, even at just the staff level, to be able to work on more modern electronic…”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 1:16:20
“I mean, I don't necessarily think that the next step is to add a half time for the council, but I. I would be in favor and I've talked to the council president as well about feeling a limitation. Uh, staff support, um, and having to go through. The rules and procedures process where we're not asking for more than 30 minutes of staff time for any single question. And I do feel like having support for communications initiatives that can be filtered through a general communication strategy would be helpful for doing outreach around specific areas, geographic town halls. I see the mayor operating…”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 1:23:21
“And just a point of clarification, celebration of a city is Rochester Fest.”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 1:29:45
“had seen in the community council member miller yeah i do have a question because it comes up every summer uh the idea of like how rochesterfest is evolving how the city's role in guiding that is what is the length what is location and obviously thursday's downtown has grown quite a bit um over the years as well and just curious where and how the city and and us have a conversation about the right level of programming working with event organizers to make sure that it's an efficient event that's well using these resources, is well attended, is relevant, is not competing with two events in the…”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 1:31:23
“And that's one of my concerns, too, looking at the possibility of a festival coordinator in the presence of RDA running a series of downtown programmatic events, plus Rochester Fest, how we're making sure from a budget process that those are all happening in collaboration and partnership and not in a competitive way for a potential audience for a downtown summer festival when those happen at similar times, similar locations. And I'm just struggling a little bit to understand how we best manage that, particularly in light of a potential opportunity to invest funding from the lodging tax to…”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 1:34:39
“I'd be in favor of that. I think additional discussion about the interim 2027 year and then a fuller evaluation of community impact could be a thoughtful process to be able to step into a different model. uh build in partnerships understand how the community would receive these i'll just still also say i would love to see the fireworks move down to cascade lake once link is open and we have much greater access pitch the lacrosse field is the point to shoot them but i i do want us to figure out how to evolve and make sure that all of our community investment and festivals and public events…”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 1:50:54
“And I guess I would just add that a legislative priority of ours League of Minnesota City is sustainable transit funding from the state. And so we continue to advocate for those. I serve on the improving local economies committee. We've had some discussion of that. And I will plan to continue to make sure that hope turns into advocacy turns into plans.”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 2:02:11
“I don't want any detail on this in detail, but are we seeing... from our partners at Mayo Clinic that their transit ridership is growing or falling.”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 2:02:25
“And their shuttle use. Are they adding shuttles or removing shuttles?”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 2:03:11
“But to Council Member Palmer's question, when they open four new ramps, do they plan to reduce their shuttle operations because now people are just driving themselves?”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026
- Play at 2:05:11
“Yeah, just a question. Since this dashboard is largely a snapshot, as you've mentioned, are you tracking those measures over time? And how might we understand improvements? I think it's great. And I know that we've seen drastic improvements for this presentation. But again, we're just looking at this snapshot and only comparing time periods for a couple of the measures. for anybody that looks at this and says, this is really bad, right? If there's a photo taken, published online somewhere, and somebody sees, well, four years, we're out of money, that's a better state than we were in. And I…”
City Council · Aug 24, 2026