Remarks by Norman Wahl
29 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 21:31
“In Mooseburg, you said that the youth from their side and you shared perspectives on each other's home countries. You didn't necessarily say what those perspectives were.”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 24:40
“So I'm a big believer in international travel because I believe it shrinks not only distance, but it shrinks the distance between spirits. You have an advantage over the other people on the Youth Council because you were on this trip. How will this change your spirit for the next 70 years?”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 57:36
“I have a long question that ultimately is about metrics. We have spent 28,000, we're proposing to spend 27,000 more. Do we have any real metrics that show what we have done with the first 28,000 has made a difference in terms of people's, I think the big question is awareness, that because we did this, 10% more people are aware of or attended something Because we did passports to the pool with the stickers this summer, that so many more people became aware of our program offerings. Do we have any metrics that say, because we did this, that's why we're doubling down on using the rest of our…”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:00:22
“Correct, yes. And I think it's important to know that. I don't think there's hardly, well, there probably are some who don't spend their advertising dollars very well on the business side. But I would guess that most businesses, when they invest X number of dollars with a local media company, expect a bump. And they somehow are trying to figure out, how did we get that bump? And if we can figure that out, then we know, boy, we got to do word of mouth harder. Or we need to do, it's not Facebook or TikTok, it's Instagram. We need to do Instagram harder because I've heard that's the big one.…”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:16:03
“That's how that would be managed Councilmember wall if we are to offer that kind of flexibility where does the onus lie for approving a Conference for instance I need $8,000 to go to a week-long conference somewhere Because it's well over what we would consider our fair share amongst the seven. Who has to make that call?”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:17:29
“You know, I'm all for self-regulation. Maybe I read the wrong things. but I read all the time of politicians who abuse travel budgets and $8,000 isn't a lot of money to spend on a week-long trip to Bemidji if you spend it in the wrong places. So I'm not sold.”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:18:27
“I mean, I'll give you an example. You could go to a Disney leadership conference and you'll spend $1,500 a day, three days, $4,500 for a conference. Then you have reasonable housing and food. Beyond that, travel. Boy, it's not hard to spend money in our day. I don't want to place that onus say, with the administrator or with a comptroller to say, golly, I guess you spent $7,000 on this conference and we're going to have to go to the council and the council is going to... Yikes.”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:20:40
“I guess my point is if someone thought, and I don't know what the, because I never planned to reach the uppermost limit, but if someone thought that, you know, reasonably I can spend $3,500 and I have this large expenditure ahead of me, if I know that my limit is 35, I'm absolutely going to get pre-approval and not run into troubles.”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:22:07
“May I add just one detail? Go ahead. I think that some people's eyebrows raised when I used some figures before. A Disney one-day conference is $1,950, and a multi-day course is $5,700 for leadership. Actually, I got a grant. The reason I know this, I got a grant and actually went to a one-day conference one time, and I was shocked. It was great. I was shocked at what it cost. So we can spend the money. in Minneapolis or Rochester.”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 1:36:48
“I have no real dragons to slay in this one, except to say that for the past four years, I believe that administratively I've been supported very kindly.”
City Council · Oct 12, 2026
- Play at 39:19
“Not that you need to do the council work for us, but I think really a lot of the council wants to ensure that we have affordable housing for families so that they can build wealth. What particular policies would lead to the opportunity for families to buy into our neighborhoods so that they can create generational wealth?”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 40:40
“There are just a lot of variables in there. So I can appreciate that.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:03:09
“And I will just continue to say that my hope is that we can foster people being able to afford homes in our city, whether that's through first homes. We need to get people to be able to create generational wealth, and we know that's through home ownership.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:11:53
“Thank you on the historical short term rental slide. You showed that 2024 was the high watermark and that 2025 retreated back to the same numbers of 2023. Is there a trend there? I've read that that market is somewhat saturated. Is there a need for correction? Will the market correct itself?”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:59:43
“The question is, does this describe the transportation problem you hear from constituents? I'm from Ward 3, and I do not hear this problem. If anything, Ward 3 residents would say, I'm not sure why we are spending time on mode shift when we're going to use our cars, really, to get everywhere. So that's from Ward 3.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 2:12:59
“I appreciate what Andy said. I also think it's driven by need and not just convenience. Back in the 1970s, I rode my bike all the time into downtown Minneapolis, both for a job and for an acting troupe I was a part of. I couldn't afford the parking. So you ride a bike and you can park your, at least at that time, you can park your bike for free. And it was only three, four miles. It was easy to do. i can see people who have a need i can't afford downtown parking or it's too congested that need will absolutely drive changes for people councilmember fredericks”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:05:52
“Thank you. And this would be for staff. It is under The conditions, it's number three. Due to the anticipated negative impacts of the quarry use, the applicant shall enter into an operations agreement executed by the applicant and the city that includes, the first bullet, planned controlled explosions only occur outside scheduled and non-scheduled flight. How could you do a planned explosion for a non-scheduled flight if you don't know they're coming?”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:36:18
“I will not be supportive of the motion. The current motion. I really appreciate the care offered by the applicant in terms of blasting and assurances that you give. I very much do appreciate that. However, Mr bars word said, you know. 1 in a 1000, which doesn't mean. zero it means something could happen safety is always paramount i believe it's safe i believe the applicants uh believe that certainly the staff believes that but even if it's you know a remote chance are you still saying there's a chance uh and it could compromise safety In addition to the local pilots that we heard earlier…”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 1:45:35
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:02:25
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:14:44
“I understand that we are setting the cap tonight and that we will establish the budget on December 7th. Most of you know that I'm talking significantly with the public these days, and by far the largest item that I get is property taxes, and it really is painful for some. I would say not most, but it is really, really painful for some. So any sharp pencils that can be applied to the budget between now and December 7th, I would be very much appreciative of Councilmember Palmer.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:18:17
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:19:27
“So I expected you to come with a motion tonight.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:24:25
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 21, 2026
- Play at 2:25:03
“So as regards the contingency, last month we spent about half of it. And we will return, if we spend no more, about $500,000 to the reserves on January 1st or December 31st, if my math is at all good. If we reduce... the contingency to 600,000 this year. And we as a council were committed to not funding projects, but really truly only emergencies. We might have 600,000 on December 31st of 2027, perhaps. Obviously nobody knows that, that's what contingency is. But I'm not necessarily convinced that bank rolling money just to put it in the reserve should be our prime consideration.”
City Council · Sep 21, 2026