Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you for your patience. One of our council members is um remote due to medical reasons and so we have to get her online and we just switched her over from the from the work session. So, are we set? Thank you very much. We appreciate your patience with our a little bit of a late start. I'm going to call to call to order this meeting of the Richfield City Council. It is January 13th. It's 7:05 p.m. And if you're able, please rise and join us for the Pledge of

Allegiance. Thank you. We have a number of community members wishing to speak this evening. So before we move on to the meeting, I ask that we please listen respectfully to all, even those who disagree with you. And please do not clap, cheer, shout out, or boo. Now, if you would all please join me in a moment of silence for Renee Nicole Good, who died so tragically last week after being shot by an ICE agent. Thank you. I want to offer my cons my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Renee Good. We grieve with you as a community. Renee should still be with us here today. I also want to acknowledge the families that have been ripped apart and traumatized by ICE activity and detentions across our community. We stand with you in solidarity and love. Watching the videos of two young citizens being forcibly detained by federal agents at Richfield Target was horrific.

Thank you to Representative Michael Howard for the support you gave to the young men and for all of and for all you do for our community. I call upon the federal government to put an end to this siege. It's not making us safer, it's making us less safe. Every community member deserves to live in safety and dignity. Thank you to all the volunteers who have been out in the community distributing food, providing transportation, keeping a watchful presence at schools, places of worship, and local businesses, and being legal observers and and doing legal observers and upstanding. Our community is under attack, but together we will remain strong and meet this latest challenge. Are there any other council members that wish to make some remarks? Council member Hayford Deliri.

Thank you all for being here today and thank you to probably all of you, many of you for volunteering and doing what you can to protect our community members. Um I know it means a lot to the people who are being most victimized by this attack. It was really appalling to see what happened last week. um not only the murder of a woman basically for being a dissident, but the almost juvenile gaslighting of the federal government with its authority telling us that you can't believe your own eyes. You can't believe when somebody who was not a threat was shot um for basically ticking off a supposed law enforcement officer. We we live in the United States. The federal government should be protecting Americans and they are not protecting Americans. They are hurting Americans. They are hurting richfielders. Um it's it's deplorable. Um kids who are afraid to go to school in our community. Um I have a close loved one in my life who is an American citizen, was born as an American citizen, who is afraid to go to the grocery store because he is not white. Um this is not the the country. This is not the the values. This is not the beliefs that we set our pledge of allegiance to. Um, there is nothing more anti-American than what our supposed American government is doing. So, I thank you all for your support. Know that we are as outraged as you are. And I I desperately hope that cooler heads can prevail and we can care about our community and that the federal government can care about our community as much as you all do. Thank you.

Does anyone else wish to speak?

Okay, Council Member Burke. Again, my condolences also to family of Miss Good. Sorry, has been expressed. She should be alive today. Federal government should not have taken her life. I've only been on the council for a year, but I will tell you that in my encounters with Richville law enforcement, especially with the chief, I've learned that law enforcement at its best focuses on three things. U respect and obeying the rule of law, being concerned about people's human rights, civil rights, and also sharing and recognizing that people that they're dealing with are human, that we share common human rights and common human shared experience. I've had actually some citizens u express to me that they're happy that I here and my response to them is that of course ICE has a job to do. They are not doing it. In fact, they're acting contrary to it in many ways. Their job is to enforce immigration law. That doesn't mean you randomly pick up people who happen to look like someone that you think doesn't belong here and treat them in ways that are not in accordance with the rule of law, not in accordance with civil rights, and have no understanding of shared humanity. Other citizens have asked for the city to do more and has already been expressed and the mayor has done it very well and the chief and city manager there great limitations as to what we can do in dealing with the federal government. There's been a request for resources and I would say that if you know people who are likely to be subject to ICE involvement that you go online and go to the Immigrant

Law Center of Minnesota, the National Institute of Minnesota or the U ofM Law School legal clinics. They will provide free legal advice and sometimes representation for these people. If you're not familiar with these organizations, please go online and look them up. For those who are observers, I praise your bravery. But also, I ask you for restraint. You should also be concerned about the rule of law, civil rights, and shared humanity. Do not get sucked in to acting in a way that allows the federal government to go beyond what they've already done. If you know someone who's an observer and they get in trouble, the American Civil Liberties, I'm sorry, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Minnesota, is the place to go for. Thank you all for being here. Looking forward to your comments and thanks again. Thank you, uh, Walter. I appreciate all all of my council members, which is an honor to serve on this, uh, city council. I'm so proud of our community and the way that we have come together to stand up against what's been happening in our community. I'm not okay with ICE being in our community. Uh, I actually think that it is very, very identical to to the SS Gustapo and all of the Nazi regime. So, until then, till we get rid of them, we need to continue to do what we're doing. And I agree with Walter on standing standing our ground, but in the same regard, don't put yourselves in harm's way. We don't need anybody else killed further. Um, and if we can do anything to to to further complain against the the federal government for for this invasion, we should do everything everything that we can do.

Thank you. Um, Council Member Christensen, did you have anything to add?

Yes. I've been u due to a medical issue of mine, I've I've had the opportunity to be home for the last several months and um it's consuming to see what is happening out there. I've been actually outside only twice in my opportunity to go out and about and it's consuming the news. It's consuming social media. it's consuming everybody's life. Uh, and we just must stay vigilant about what's happening and just support our neighbors because Richfield is so diverse that um we must in fact uh just support our neighbors as much as we can. There's a lot of opportunities out there to help them if we're able to. And um yeah, we just must be vigilant and hope this will pass soon.

Thank you. At this point, I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Second. I'll second. Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? Since we have one member remote, we need to do a roll call. So, Fer, would you please call the role? Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke. Hi. Council member Hayford Deliri. Hi.

Council member Christensen. Council member Christensen. Council member Christensen. We can't hear you. So, even a thumbs up would work or a thumbs down. I believe you're muted. She can't I think she may have muted herself. Council member Christensen. Council member Coleman Woods. I. Thank you, Council Member Christensen. And and as mayor, I vote I as well. Thank you.

So, we've approved the agenda. Next, we'll move on to the approval of the minutes from the work session from meeting from December 9th, 2025, the regular council meeting from December 9th, 2025, and special council meeting on December 22nd, 2025. And I did want to note there is one spelling correction on a speaker's name from open forum for Ava Mcnite on page 14 of the December 22nd, 2025 um minutes. So that would be included in the motion. Is there a motion to approve those three sets of minutes?

I second. I'm sorry. The motions. So, it's been moved and seconded to approve both of those or all three of those sets of minutes. Is there any discussion? All right. Council member or city clerk Friedick, would you please take the role? Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke, hi. Council member Hayford Olri. Hi. Council member Christensen. I council member Coleman Woods. Hi. And Mayor Supple. I Thank you.

So, we have approved the minutes. Next, we're going to be moving on to the open forum. There are a number of people wishing to speak tonight, so we will strictly follow the three minute time limit. I will hold up a yellow card when you have 30 seconds left and a red card when your time has expired. I would like to remind you to please listen respectfully and quietly to all, even those you disagree with. When you approach the podium, state your name and city of residence and then I will start the timer. Thank you. Um, our council rules provide for 30 minutes of open forum, but given the number of comments, I would like to make a motion to extend the time limit to an hour and a half. So that would take us to 8:47 for open forum. And I also would like to make a motion. There's been one request for an accommodation, an ADA accommodation. So I know who that speaker is. So that person will be given five minutes. Is there a second to that motion?

Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right, council member, city clerk Friedrich, would you please call the role? Yes, thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke, hi. Council member Hayford, I. Council member Christensen, I council member Coleman Woods, hi. And Mayor Supple, I.

Thank you. So now we'll begin the um open forum. So you can come up here and I'll call them in the order they were turned in so people can come up to speak and you have three minutes and we'll work on making sure that we listen to hear everyone's point of view. So the first person is Heidi Gore. Good evening. Heidi Gibbore, Richfield, Minnesota. I would like to address the ICE invasion of and attacks in our community. The personal fear and trauma and horror happening in our community are real. In addition, Richfield businesses are suffering. Many of our im immigrant neighbors, be they citizens, legal residents, or undocumented workers and bread earners for their families, are understandably staying in their homes, too afraid to venture out, whether to work, to study, or to shop. The trauma of seeing and knowing people who have been snatched from the street, or from their place of employment, is damaging to health. And that's not even mentioning the murder of a mother in her car. The other day, a friend who is a teacher told me of an ICE individual who was driving about 40 miles per hour in a Richfield school zone. Most of them have no regard whatsoever for the law. I don't want to call these individuals agents as agent indicates that some kind of training has been received and not just a firearm and chemical spray and vehicle. ICE individuals are held to no standard of accountability. In general, as was intended by our national leaders, ICE is creating chaos and insecurity in our metro area,

including the city of Richfield. They are definitely not targeting the worst of the worst as they snatch working youths and adults, many of whom are US citizens. In many cases, these individuals methods are illegal and when pressed, they brazenly lie about what precipitated them taking someone into custody and fabricate scenarios. Due to the ICE activity in the area, a number of Richfield's businesses have had to close, hopefully just temporarily, causing hardships for the owners and workers. Of course, this is a goal of ICE and they don't care about the human aspect of their actions. But we residents of Richfield and neighbors of immigrants do care. Due to ICE activity in the area, many children are missing valuable education time. ICE is causing disruption and fear in our community, but we will stand by our neighbors and help in what we are able. ICE is unneeded and unwanted here. And then I have a question for the police department if they're able to give an answer at some time in the future. Are you stopping and ticketing ICE vehicles with improperly displayed license plates and those with no plates at all and the vehicles with illegally tinted windows? Thank you.

Thank you. Next we have Johnson.

Okay. Can you hear me? Becca Johnson, Richfield, Minnesota. I am an immigrant from Germany. Germany has a history and it's a heavy one that is of unspeakable brutality. I live with the history of my country of birth which which comes with responsibilities. This perspective influences how I respond to issues in my new home. Now, as an American citizen, I am very troubled by the view that the appearance of strength matters and humanity is weak. What I have been seeing lately is immigration enforcement that has adopted a military look and operation style that imposes warlike methods on the people. Our immigration system has been broken for a long time and that has been true during Republican and Democratic administrations. Agriculture has used migrants for decades if not longer. So have other service directed occupations. Powerful people and corporations have always exploited minorities to profit themselves. The US needs immigration to survive. Otherwise, we will not have a rich and diverse country. Crime at the top is caused by greed and at the bottom by wealth disparity.

Wealth disparity is one of the main causes of crime. We need the police to investigate all crimes, those committed against our immigrant population as well. Richfield police cannot be involved with immigration. The city uh the Richfield uh city police must have the trust of the people and cannot participate [clears throat] in what is provocative and divisive. How would it have looked if Richfield police had assisted ICE in tearing out the two American citizens from the Richfield target? Recently, I took an oath to this country, the United States of America, and take it very seriously. We are to build a better union, but it must not not be ruled by fear. Some of our cruelty is not conservative. Treat people like people. [applause] Thank you. Great. Please remember we're not going to be or we ask people not to clap. Um, next we have Simon Troutman Cordova.

And I just had the suggestion that on deck will be Ashley Daniels. So I'll start telling people ahead of time so they know who's coming next. Good. Good evening everybody. Uh this is the first time speaking from this corner of the dis. Um I just want to thank all my colleagues um for your your courage and using your voices in this moment and our staff for working hard in these extraordinary times and with courage. I want to say several things because I know we have a room full of people that are horrified but by what happens and some that are even excited uh by what's happening here. Excuse me. Can you give your name and city of res?

I'm so sorry. Thank you. My name is Simon Troutman Cordova and I'm from the city of Richfield.

Um, so this this evening I want to speak um I I I'm a Senate candidate, but I'm not speaking as a Senate candidate. I'm speaking as a resident here, a second generation Latino member of our community and as an attorney in our community that has the privilege of representing everybody, but primarily um black, Latino, and first generation immigrant business owners and entrepreneurs. And I'm here, people will talk about other stories, but I'm here today to talk about the absolute economic depression that is happening with Latino and Somali businesses right now. This is like a COVID level economic depression, but only for the most vulnerable entrepreneurs and businesses and economic communities in our state. And I just want to remind everybody that there are not Latino dollars and they're not Somali dollars. These are Minnesota dollars. These are Minnesota small businesses and they are in crisis. And so one ask and consideration for the council is part that you bear witness and we use our tools to document the economic impact of these bizarre and cruel and often unlawful policies. Um the economic impact and also the public health impacts of what's happening. Another consideration I want to say this as an attorney for folks that think it's only folks that are undocumented that are being arrested. We know even in our city that citizens are being arrested, but I can tell you that even folks with legal status are rotting in incarceration tonight. People that have work permits, people that have that have come here legally are being detained. And that story is not being told. For every level of violence we see at ICE, there are levels of bureaucratic horror that are happening right now. And so as everybody is here, I want to tell you what encourages me is the level of organization and the level of engagement and the level of neighborly care that's happening. And so to our council members and to our city, I want to say please continue to reach out to your neighbors.

Please continue to patronize black, Latino, Somali businesses. This matters right now. There are no COVID funds coming. The opposite is coming. We've just found that those funds are being all federal funds are being seized as of today. And to our city staff, consider the actions of our US our our Trumpapp appointed former acting US attorney and his colleagues. They considered whether and what ICE was asking them to do and they said no more. We do not trust them. We do not believe them and they're betting with their careers. Thank you. Thank you. Um, next we have Ashley Daniels.

Oh, and the and on deck is Kathleen Balivan.

Can you guys hear me? Yes. And if you could give us your name and your city of residence.

Okay. My name is Ashley Daniels and I live in Richfield. I'm a fairly new resident here in Richfield. I moved here almost four years ago after graduating with my master's degree in education to be closer to my job at the time as a high school English teacher at a charter school where 97% of students identify as Somali American. Even though I would later find out due to my disabilities of moderate support needs autism, undiagnosed dysotenomia where I have a surgically implanted heart rate monitor and endometriosis where I just recently had a full hyctomy and survived very life-threatening complications from that surgery a month ago. I was very motivated by my students and working with them. And it deepened my passion for serving diverse populations outside of my own. And I would later go on to become the youth programs manager for the Karen organization in Minnesota where I built and designed programming to reduce educational barriers for refugee youth for students from Burma, Thailand, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. I'm here attending my very first town hall to express my anger as well as to express the anger of my students and their families who cannot be here today. I'm angry at the Republican lawmakers who fed Nick Shirley false information that has led to the infiltration and invasion of ICE we are seeing on our streets that resulted in the brutal execution of Renee Nicole Good. I'm angry that my students and their families don't feel safe sending their children to school because ICE has been emboldened by the regime in the White House to brutalize people regardless of citizenship. I'm angry that it took a white woman being murdered for this amount of outrage to spark because before Renee there was Keith Porter Jr. And before Keith, there was Sylve

Gonzalez. But before people started being killed by ice, they were being sent to Sikat and alligator Alcatres. And Kilmora Brago Garcia is still alive to tell his story, but he was brutalized and beaten. My students and their families are angry and afraid that they may be the next teenager to be kidnapped from their jobs like 17-year-old Christian and his coworker who were beaten just for working at Target. They are also afraid that they may become the next Svio or Keith or Renee. As a result of this fear, people don't feel safe bringing their kids to school, going to grocery stores, or even leaving their apartments or homes. Businesses are closing. Schools are being forced to go remote in some districtses some districts to protect kids and families, but families are still being forced to work to pay bills to get by. In my anger, I'm calling on our local law lawmakers to legislatively step in to protect families by number one signing an eviction moratorum to keep families in crisis housed to prevent homelessness while ICE is terrorizing our streets. Number two, allocate city funds to nonprofits such as VEP and churches that are able to help Richfield residents in crisis because as of right now, most organizations either have had their funding significantly cut or funding doesn't exist to provide services to families. And number three, calling on our state representatives to pass an emergency budget that would give stimulus checks for everyone in the state of Minnesota to avoid financial crisis for residents who cannot work or bring families to school or be able to get by. Minnesota is under federal attack and we need our elected officials to step up and keep us safe. There's also a reason why meeting basic survival needs along with safety needs are the first two pillars of the Maslo's hierarchy of needs. When people don't feel safe and can't meet their basic needs because of fear of being

kidnapped, tortured, beaten, or killed by a militarized police force occupying our state for no reason other than racist hatred that threatens the very fabric of everything that Richfield is as a city. Because diversity, differences, and our immigrant neighbors make our community great. ICE blatantly ignoring the law and terrorizing our state doesn't. Thank you. Thank you. So, next we have Kathleen Baliban and after that is Alicia Waters.

Good evening. My name is Kathleen Baliban and I live in Richfield. Um, I am going to speak to what's on the agenda and it's on the ordinance uh 10B and it's speaking to the city manager is asking that we uh approve a new department and director of human resources. I looked at that and I have to be honest about it. Um, one of the things that I noticed is you guys, we as a city approved the 2026 budget on December 9th, which you approved and [clears throat] excuse me, in today's meeting approved that. Nowhere in that budget does it speak to adding 177,000 salary to the budget. Okay, I say 177 because their starting salary would be about 136 thou,000 and you add 30% for benefits, that equates to $177,000 annually. When I went back to the 2026 budget and looked at that, this person would be responsible for two people because they are supposedly replacing the manager with this new position. And in that budget, it says there are two people that $177,000 salary would be supervisory. They also indicated that they only have 360,000 as their annual budget. That means their salary represents about half of that budget. Now, more importantly, what stands out is the essential duties assigned in this job description that's in your agenda. A p page and a half of essential duties, 99% of them are already currently being done by somebody. I would suggest that they're probably being done by the director of

administration. Okay? And or partially the manager because they're already being done. Now, the thing that catches me on this is 72% of our general fund is compensation. That's my property taxes. Now, this individual, meaning the person that's putting this together, Why wasn't this in the documentation that you approved what 36 days ago? I mean, we're only into this two weeks into the year and we're already out of the budget. We're already making propositions to push ourselves out of the budget that you approved. Now, I'm not saying that this may or may not be a good position, but it's not appropriate at this time with what's going on in our market, what's going on in our budget, and why wasn't it thought of sooner. So, you could think about it, be approved, and talk about what would give up and who would be doing what because somebody's doing these functions today. Please understand that. Thank you. Thank you. So, I'm gonna call up Alicia Waters and on deck we have Courtney Couch. My name is Alicia Waters and I live in Richfield, Minnesota. [snorts] I care deeply about public safety, public health, and the welfare of my community.

[snorts]

The presence of ICE and other federal agents in our community has [snorts] created fear and chaos. It's actively traumatizing residents, which is a serious public health threat, [snorts] and is jeopardizing the safety of Richfield residents, workers, and children so that they are not able to go to school or their jobs or even go to the store to get groceries and other necessities. I did some research. The city charter appendix A of the city code chapter 3 section 3.06 emergency or ordinances states that an emergency ordinance is an ordinance necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, morals, safety or welfare which we clearly see a need for. Now under city code chapter 13 section 1305.25 25 specific regulations illegal parking and stopping. Part S allows the council to issue a resolution to prohibit or limit the stopping, standing or parking of a vehicle, whether attended or unattended, on any public property, including parks, playgrounds, and school grounds, and including marked and improved parking areas on public property by conspicuously posting the prohibition or limitation in the parking area. Therefore, I'm requesting the Richfield City Council to issue an emergency ordinance prohibiting ICE and other federal agents from using any public property under the city codes I've just cited for staging their raids or harassing or intimidating residents and to enact a fee um if it is violated so they can help pay for the signage. Our [snorts] community is in crisis because of the unlawful activities of ICE. And you, city council, have the power to do something to help protect your residents from having their civil rights violated. As others have stated, Richfield businesses have had to close or reduce

their hours. Childrens are staying home from school. ICE has not only created a public safety issue in Richfield, they have created a public health issue and [snorts] a negative economic impact in our city. Prohibiting ICE from using public property is something I believe you can do to ensure the future vitality of our community. Thank you. Thank you. Next we'll have Courtney Cupch and on um deck is Landon McCay.

Hi, I'm Courtney Couch, Richfield, Minnesota. I've lived in Richfield for over a decade with my husband and our seven and four-year-old daughters. The last city council meeting I attended, I was advocating to keep a garden existing in our yard. Today, I'm advocating to exist or for our neighbors to exist in our community. I have neighbors afraid to take their kids to school, go to work at their jobs, or even go to the grocery store to get food for their families. And this fear is not unprecedented. ICE is illegally kidnapping, detaining, and deporting our neighbors without a second thought. Every day, I walk my seven-year-old daughter to the bus stop to go to an elementary school where a third of her class is not showing up. My husband drops our four-year-old off at a Spanish immersion daycare where every staff member is afraid for their lives and their loved ones. and not because they're not legal citizens, because you could not be a teacher or a staff member at a daycare if that was not the case. It doesn't matter. My husband's a high school teacher and teens in his class are dropping their extracurriculars and gym memberships because it isn't safe for them to be in public. ICE is forcing our neighbors into hiding that have nothing to hide. Legal status or not, it doesn't matter to ICE or to our administration. Law and order does not exist, and accountability isn't even an afterthought. To quote Nancy Lions, a local leader and entrepreneur, "How do you survive a system that is no longer plays by the rules? This isn't about politics. It's about people. It's about survival. And none of us knows what safety feels like anymore." Thank you. Thank you.

All right. I'm gonna call up Landon McKay and Taylor Martin is on deck.

Hello. uh Landon McCay, uh Richfield. Um I I emailed all of you, I think at one point. I think you remember that and the police chief as well. Uh I appreciate your words tonight. Um very heartfelt, very very nice. Uh but what I did hear was just a lot of thoughts and prayers and that really doesn't help our community. I hear a lot of great recommendations already tonight that hopefully we take up in our community because people are scared. People are crying. I have kids in my neighborhood that are afraid to go to school. Uh I'm afraid every day and I'm just a white guy. I can't even imagine uh what what other members of my community are feeling currently. Um you know, it's it's not okay when you have these Nazi thugs running our streets. um violating the Constitution, violating laws, abducting a child from Target, beating him up in his car, and then dropping him off two miles later. Uh when the police chief says, "I can't do anything," that's not acceptable, and that's not okay. When that it's it's we have to do something. Uh I think the bare minimum too and this is something I also expressed uh in my email to to all of you is that we have a mass surveillance cameras in our community flock cameras that are being leveraged by ICE. Now I was assured by the police chief that we don't share that data. Uh the ACLU says something different and Walter you referenced the ACLU today. They said they're violating the Fourth Amendment. They still share data with with ICE regardless of what the contract says and that is the truth. So, the bare minimum to keep the cameras up is still 80 netty nights. I don't think any of you want to. I think you're good people. I met you in my neighbor's yard. I thought you were lovely, by the way. Um,

but I I'm asking you to be brave and I'm asking you to do something, a tangible thing that we can eliminate those cameras because they are being used. They're a key data point in tracking down our neighbors and abducting our neighbors. They're anti-privacy. They're anti-American and it's a very minimal thing that we could actually do today to save members of of our community from being abducted. Thank you. Thank you.

So, next we have Taylor Martin and Coral Faker is on deck. My name is Taylor Martin. I am a family law attorney and I have a very diverse group of clients. Um, I'm from Richfield, by the way. I've lived here for five years in June. Um, we have seen the police brutalize our citizens in this city and the cities around us at Target, driving in traffic. They've rammed vehicles. They are pulling people out of vehicles, kidnapping from them, leaving them idle in the street with smashed windows and cut um seat belts and a variety of I could go on for hours on the type of brutality we're seeing here. Um the fact of the matter is they're not following the rule of law. And I I I as an attorney, I understand that there are certain limitations, but there are also things that we can do to protect our community. And I think that it is important that one, we demand a response from Target on what occurred at their location. They are silent. They've said nothing. They have declined comment. Um that is a severe concern. Um I understand that we don't have any jurisdiction over them, but we should demand some sort of action from them. For our police, what are you doing to protect our citizens? Will you stand there with us if we are legal observers trying to protect our community? Are you going to support ICE and I'm gonna start crying, tear gas us, attack us? What like we have seen the police done in the past with George Floyd and other similar protests? Um like other people have said, they are violating the law. There are things that you can arrest these people for. Simple things like the tint on their vehicles are not really arrestable. You can find them. Those were suggestions.

But if they are in the process and in the action of violating the constitution, violating our state and local laws, ordinances, and regulations, they are still citizens. And whether they are acting the capacity as a federal agent or not, they are breaking the law. and detaining them is the only thing that we can really do and ask our community, our officials and our police representatives to do and take action because until something happens, until we do something like that, they're going to continue to attack us and harm us and we're going to end up with more individuals harmed. Children are being harmed um and potentially killed. And this is the only power we have against our government right now. We can stand and legally observe, but they're lying and telling us we can't do that. A woman in Minneapolis had a Door Dash driver run into her home and they were telling her that she would be charged with harboring a fugitive and specifically the Minneapolis police told her the same. That's not correct. I think that our police should also be informing the public about what they can do and what their rights are in those types of situation and making it clear that if we are to call them for assistance, they will be there for us and not for ICE. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we have Taylor Martin and Oh, and on deck is Coral Facker. Oh, wait. Did I do it backwards? I'm sorry. I didn't move my paper. So, next we have Coral Thcker and on deck is Jeff R.

Hello, I'm Coral Thcker. I'm from Richfield. I live over on Nicollet. I'm an American. I'm a disabled combat veteran. I am queer. I'm a geek. I am nuanced. I'm compassionate. I love my neighbors. I help strangers. I'm a loyal friend. And above all, I'm human. We all had a mother and father and were once defenseless, small, and innocent. Borders are made by people who want to have control, power, and more money than they will ever need in their lifetime. As my friend Buddy said recently, borders are just made up lines on a map. I'm a transplant here. I'm originally from Marshalltown, Iowa. I moved up here in 2010 after the army. I grew up in poverty without my dad who died due to drunk driving. I was raised on a farm with my mother's racist boyfriend. He had an arsenal of guns and Nazi flags under the guise of appreciating history, but he dropped all of those slurs on a daily. I would hear [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] and [ __ ] I'm queer. My mom let that happen. But she's a good mom. things are nuanced. He had pure hate in his heart. My hometown is nearly 40% Hispanic. And so at 8 years old, I knew it was wrong and I knew I was getting out. I left the day I got a car when I was 16 and I never looked back. I mentioned my friend Buddy earlier. He's a fellow geek. He has the sweetest soul. He's the kindest human, just funny, so spiritual, level-headed, and always tries to see the good in everyone. Buddy was almost detained by ICE last Friday. He was just trying to go buy some board games before coming over to play board games with us, my partner and I. He stopped near the source in Roseville

because he saw a swarm of cars around a single vehicle with three scared teenage boys in it. He pulled over out of the way, filmed it from across the street. They yelled to him, "Are you a citizen? Where are your papers? We can detain your ass." He said, "Why wouldn't I be?" They started approaching him and becoming more hostile. They asked him if he had a passport. He said, "No, just his license." They said, "That's not good enough." This very quickly could have escalated, but one of them got a call and they left. Buddy got back in his car and they saw that his phone had died. He cried for 30 minutes waiting for his phone to charge so he could call his sister. He then called my partner. I answered that phone because it was in the middle of the day on a Friday. Why would Buddy be calling? I answered. I told him to come over immediately. All of this just because some racist saw brown skin. My heart is hurting and I don't want violence or hate. But where do we go from here? What do we do now to stop this fun federally funded racism and propaganda before it's too late? Before as we as Americans repeat the foulest history that our great-grandparents died for. It is really hard to come back to humanity and see people as people or is this these so-called agents and the so-called administration just too far gone to where they themselves are not even human any longer. I'll end with a quote from someone who is more eloquent than me, my friend Buddy. He said this just days after he was almost un unlawfully kidnapped. Together we must stand to denounce the division and to state unequivocally, we are love and we are not afraid. Thank you.

Thank you, Jeff. I think it's R. I'm having trouble. So, I'm assuming you know who you are. And on deck is Ben Brown. Hello. I'm Jeff from here in Richfield. Um, just want to steal some thoughts out here. I'm not very organized. Probably should have got some notes or something, but just want to say just want to demand some action here like or what are you doing? Like why the people of the city are doing way more than anyone else? Like the over everyday citizens are out there patrolling the streets watching trying to watch out for our neighbors and what is the city doing? I heard some great suggestions. Eviction of moratorium. That would be great for people that can't go to work or their work is closed because of ICE. They can't go to work. We got to do things like that. Why do we flop cameras? Why do we have those in the first place? Get rid of them. Get rid of them immediately. We should not have had those in the first place. They're awful invasion of privacy. We should not have that. We need action. We need real things. We got to get creative. I understand we can't do everything that you want to do. just drive them out as we should be doing. But we need something. We need action. We don't need words. You all have very nice words. You have nice things to say. But we need action. We need more than words. We need actual things, tangible things to protect our people. That's all I got.

Thank you. Next, we have Ben Brown. And on deck is Erica Klene. Hi, my name is Ben Brown. I live here in Richfield. Um, Fred Rogers's mom said to him when he was little, "When there's a catastrophe, look for the helpers." I think a lot of us have heard that and we can really feel it. And I'm so proud of our community and our surrounding communities for all the helpers that are here and that are doing so much. I want to do more as a helper. I hope everybody does. Um, one of those helpers shares a lot of information and they shared that last city council, someone said that one of our fellow me residents said that their other residents should uh should just voluntarily deport themselves. And that really that you know that that threw me off. Um, and I really like thought about it and thought about it and um uh sorry. And I was like, "Oh, well, you know, that that's just me. That's whatever." And I was like, "I don't know. Like, that's not very helpful. That tears apart our community." But you know then um I wanted to like how can I help? How can I be a helper? And then it came to me. I was born in International Falls, Minnesota and my mom still lives there out our back window. We can see Canada. Now why would you tell somebody to like mandatorily report deport yourself? Maybe you're like trying to be some kind of leader or something. Um

but I could help that person and anybody that feels that way. If you really think that um one of the best leaders I've ever known was a former supervisor. His name was Tyrone Snell. He left us too early. He was a wonderful man that served in the military. Um he served publicly in a civilian capacity. He joined us in a in a well-established group and um and from day one he said to us, "I will never ask you to do something that I would not do myself." And sure enough, from day one till his last day, he was right there with us. Every time we had to roll something out, we were elbow to elbow, shoulder-to-shoulder, he was there being a leader. And so it came to me like, I can I can help these people that want to be leaders. If you believe that, if you want to tell your fellow residents to mandatorily deport themselves, I got it. I got you. I'm your helper. I will come to your house. I will help you pack up your things. I will make sandwiches for us. We will load things into my car. I will drive you to my mom's house. I will buy the gas. Then my mom will make us bars. She makes really good bars. She makes scotch rou magic cookie bars. Those little green um Reese, my youngest kid loves those with the little red hots on them. We will share those together. I will help you be the leader you want to be because then when we're done, when you're ready, I will take you by the hand. We will walk the couple blocks to the international border and you can be the leader you want to be. You deport yourself. That is ridiculous. These people are our people. They're our community. We're all a community. Whether you like it or not, whether I like it or not, we're all we have. I mean, what can people what can the city council do? Huh? They can't do anything. So, don't do anything like

that and tear things down. There are so many helpers here. I want to be a better helper. There's a million ways you can help. The first thing you can do is not say stuff like that. Please finish up. Thank you. So, um, my last thing I'll say, it's super corny, but I know I really needed to hear it. It's from Fred Ro. There's a few things from Fred Rogers. You're special. There is no one quite like you. I always wanted to have a neighbor like you. I always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. Would you please be my neighbor? Thank you.

Thank you. Erica Klene is up next. And after that, Patrick John Patrick Jones is on deck. I'm Erica Klene and I live in Richfield. There are so many stories in this room and in this community. We've heard so many. We've heard so much pain and we've heard about so many helpers. But we're talking to the government and what can the government do? This question has been asked in previous meetings. It's been asked in this meeting and I work for the government myself. I work for state government and I've worked in county government and I actually know some of the things that government can do. They're important things and they're valuable things. I think this government, the city government can take a look at what this is costing the city. This has been brought up before by other speakers and I think it's a good idea and I think it's something that is in the power of a city to pursue. We can look at what the economic costs are. We're losing businesses. We're losing workers. All of those entities pay taxes. We're also losing neighbors and we care about those things. But this is the government and what can the government do? What angle can the government look at? We can look at the economic cost to this community. What about the public health costs as well? Those have come up and that's another interest that the government can pursue. Children are missing school. We cared about that during the pandemic and we care about it. We care about it still. Children are being traumatized. Adults are being traumatized as well. Children are being traumatized. What are the public health implications? Picture us a year or two or [clears throat] however many it takes to think of a place in the near future where this is behind us and we're

looking back. What should we be doing differently as a city? How should we be adjusting our budgets? how should we be adjusting our services? We have to know what the costs, what the impacts are in order to do those things. So, I think that the city ought to focus on what governments do best. Thank you. Thank you,

Patrick Jones. And on deck is um Conera Lenon. Hi, I'm Patrick Jones from Richfield reading a statement for John Ruskakus from Richfield. I've been very clear since this president took office that his number one goal is to make sure his encore performance in the newly remodeled White House makes us all of us heard as much as possible. The surge of ICE officers is one of the most glaring examples of this. It has nothing to do with legal status. People are being stopped, searched, and detained, sometimes violently, simply because of their appearance. As a person of Mediterranean descent, I am mindful of this and always looking over my shoulder since ICE arrived here, even though I was born and raised in this country and have lived here my whole life. It has nothing to do with families. How many kids have come home from school wondering where their parents are? How can anyone who claims to be a person of faith support this? It's not about public safety. Any escalation of this type of governmental force on the street for any reason is going to increase tensions and the risk of violence. The administration is well aware of that and that's what they're hoping for. The poor training of these officers, one who just murdered a woman from Minneapolis in cold blood is proof of this. It has nothing to do with protecting US jobs. How many of our local Ridgefield businesses now have limited hours or have closed indefinitely due to ISIS presence? P.S. I've not seen anyone lining up for those jobs. This administration is so willfully feeding its flock with misinformation and the hatred of the other. This is one step towards burning crosses on people's front loans. Shame. Shame on anyone who has fallen

for this. and supports our king and his cronies in their efforts to destroy our country for their gain. Thank you. Thank you. So concerto Lenon and on deck is Barbara Amron.

Good evening. I'm Conetta Lanen. Um I live in Richfield. I'm here to echo the comments and concerns of many others in this room about the eyes presence in our city. You have expressed your concerns and discussed with what is happening, what has been happening um in this community, our state, and in the country at large. And you've thanked us for taking care of each other. For this acknowledgement and shared sentiment, I am grateful. You've also expressed that your ability to help us is limited as it pertains to the federal government. To that, I ask you, will you do what you can do for us? Will you remove the flock cameras? Will you make it harder for them to track us and our neighbors? Will you cite them for traffic violations? Will you enact an eviction moratorum? Will you do everything you can do to help? Several people have stood here this evening with research solutions and ways you can help us. And I ask you, will you do everything that is in your power? We protect us. And boy, would we appreciate it if you could do everything that you can do to protect us, too. Thank you.

Thank you, Barbara Amron. And on deck is Dwayne Sitesma. I'd like to thank the council and the mayor and many of the participants who have spoken so eloquently about the problems that we have here. I don't feel that I can add anything to that. Um [clears throat] I Barbara Amram I should have said I live in Richfield and I will use my seniority. I have lived in Richfield for 66 years. [laughter] In fact, when I first spoke, it was about whether we should have a Richfield well or a used Minneapolis's Mississippi River water. Fortunately, the well ran one out. We had a persuasive mayor. But I too am frustrated about feeling what can we do aside from what we can do, but what can the council do? One thought that came to me, and you may consider it out of line, but the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are suing the administration. What if many more cities in the state joined with them in that lawsuit? Could it be more effective and and stronger? Uh other I also would like to see more use of the local paper which some people read the current and expressing your views and trying to persuade people about what you feel needs to be done. And I'd like to add one more thing that should apply to everyone. Go to your precinct caucus. Thanks.

Thank you. Um Dwayne Sitesma and on deck is Linda Peterson. Is Dwayne here? All right, I'll hold on to that in case he comes back. Does anybody know Dwayne? All right, then. Linda Peterson and on deck is Alicia Takis. And I apologize if I'm messing up people's names. Hello, my name is Linda Peterson and I am from Richfield. I am never without my whistle. I should never have to be without my whistle. I went to the vigil the night Renee Nicole Good was killed. A vigil that never should have happened. This has all been said before, but this killing and many kidnappings which have taken place in our neighborhoods have now made our streets and lives less safe, not more. The terrorizing of our families, friends, co-workers has to stop. My co-workers are afraid to go to work because they're not white and they talk with an accent and because they don't look like me. It frustrates me. Just because they don't look like me, they don't sound like me, they're afraid to go to work because they are they now have targets on their backs. These are members of our community. Community takes care of our own. But what can be done when there are more invaders than residents?

I have no answers, but do have an idea. ideas. I hope to see a rental moratorum, removal of the flock cameras, and something to make our neighbors safe again. Thank you. Thank you. Um Alicia Takis and um on deck is Joanne Delquist.

Hi, my name is Alicia. I'm a resident of Richfield for almost a decade now. Um, great job everyone who prepared. I'm going to just speak from the heart. Uh, I agree. We've had a lot of thoughts and prayers and we've had more than enough thoughts and prayers. Um, my my familiar roots in Minnesota run deep. My family's been here over 140 years. When I was four years old, we marched in the Fourth of July parade to to celebrate the hundred years of the founding of our town. Uh, the other side of my family comes from Germany. I grew up listening to stories from my great-grandmother and my grandmother who survived World War I and World War II. The lessons that they taught when I was just a little girl, I didn't understand then. I didn't understand the impact, how things could move so quickly, how people could see their neighbors being terrorized, tormented, killed, shipped off, what have you. We we've all heard the atrocities in the last few years. More recently, last few months month here in Minneapolis, we've seen so many similar things happening. It's great to see the community stand up, speak out, show up, be here tonight, ask the council to do what is right, to do the extent of your power as we are all trying to do in our own daily lives. We just need to do more. We need to take all these suggestions that folks have raised tonight and really look into them and take action. Now, I'm going to stop there and just read this quote because it keeps running through my mind. Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.

That that was written in the diary of Anne Frank on January 13th, 1943. That's the same date we're on today, just a handful of years later. Thank you for listening. Do what you can. Support your community. Thank you. Next, we have Joanne Erin Dulquist. And on deck is Megan Fathery. Hi, I'm Joan Eron Dulquist. Um, I'm a Richfield resident. Uh, I don't get the longevity award. I've only been here 34 years. Um, in that amount of time, Richfield has changed a lot and it has not changed at all. It's uh the reason that my husband and I decided to move here and live here was because of the richness of the community. The the real feeling I think even before the term was coined of the urban hometown. You know, it's got it's got all the benefits of being in the city with uh slightly larger lots than in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Um, and certainly there's been a lot of disagreements among neighbors, but it it's horrible. This is horrible what's happening. And I just want to say I really appreciate everybody who's come with such prepared and researched statements because I didn't. I just came with like a note that I wrote down while sitting in the parking lot of a grocery store watching the Richfield Police Department um a couple of its officers uh talk to somebody in the car because they had been called unmasked uniformed marked cars calm following a procedure. Totally legit. It's not what the people who are calling themselves ICE are doing in our community. And what I want to know is that our police department in Richfield

and everybody who works for the city of Richfield is doing everything they can to uphold the real rule of law, the actual rule of law, and protect my family, me, and my wider community. Thank you. Thank you, Megan Fathery. And we have Matt Anderson on deck.

Hi. Thank you for being here tonight and for extending the time to hear um everyone who has comments. I'm Megan Fathery. I live in Richfield. Um I've lived here about 10 years. Ward One. Um and I'm just really here I also don't have prepared remarks, but um some notes, but I'm really just here to to be in community. Um, like many of you, I'm here to express my outrage, um, my grief at the terror and the trauma that is being inflicted on our community um, by federal law enforcement officers. Um, I I would like to see ICE out of our community. I' I've never felt as unsafe um, for myself and my neighbors as I do right now. and it's because of federal law enforcement uh activity in our community. That's I recognize that's a privilege that um I haven't felt this terrorized before, but um it's impacting me and my neighbors um mental health um yeah ability to participate in the economy and um to just be present. But it also does uh it also has just shown uh how strong we are as well. And um it is really impactful to see neighbors helping neighbors and coming together and just raising our voices. So thank you to the council for everything you're doing for everyone here. And um I just want to continue to implore you to do everything you can uh to stand with us. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we have Matt Anderson and on deck is Jim Riley.

Yeah, I'm Matt Anderson. I live here in Richfield. And uh in the last week alone, we've all seen the legal actions that have happened against our neighbors, including most notably the two teenage target employees, kids in our city. And I'm just going to say that from personal experience this past week. When you watch some of your neighbors hastily pack their lives into two suitcases and a few garbage bags, flee their home in their pajamas. When you spend an entire drive listening to the fearful sobs of a young girl, you never forget it. And I pray that no family ever has to experience what that family did. And yet, I know that their story will be repeated tomorrow and the next day and the next, often in ways that are far more traumatic and far more violent. At the height of the ICE surge in Chicago a few months ago, I've been told that roughly 650 ICE agents were sent there. Today in the Twin Cities, 2,000 soon to be 3,000 agents will be here. This is about escalation in every single way. escalation in numbers, escalation in intimidation, escalation of violent tactics. And until we we say clearly and publicly and act courageously and publicly in ways that demonstrate that this kind of fear has no place here, that ISIS presence is no longer permitted here. These stories will continue until none of us are left. We must realize that not only is fascism a threat to the future of our nation, it has landed on our very doorsteps. Literally, as a former pastor of 20 years, I've tried to build the ethic of my life on a love for my neighbor. Regardless of one's faith, affiliation, or lack thereof, I just ask that every one of us here continue to love our neighbors. love them really, really well, even if and as it comes at our own expense.

And I'll just conclude by saying that our city is on edge. We can see that we can see that much of what ICE is doing here is patently illegal. And virtually all of what they are doing here is intentionally dehumanizing and terrorizing. And so I just ask that as a city, we do all that we can do to reinforce the message that our immigrant neighbors are welcome here and that ICE is not. And I continue to ask that you as our city's leaders, consistent with what you shared at the start of this meeting, heed some of the fantastic actionable items that have been proposed here tonight, continue to use whatever mechanisms and resources you have at your disposal to thwart ISIS's efforts to harm our neighbors and tear apart our community while also using every mechanism and resource you have at your disposal to both protect and support our immigrant neighbors at their homes, their schools, their businesses, and their places of worship. Thank you.

Thank you, Jim Riley. And then Dwayne Saitma is is on deck if he's here.

Hello, my name is Jim Riley. I'm a resident of Richfield here in East Richfield. On January 8th, the illegal abduction and detention of two American citizens by Customs and Border Protection uh officials at the Richfield Target placed our city at the center of recent federal enforcement actions in Minnesota. Because these unlawful actions were carried out by federal officers within Richfield, I am asking our mayor, city council, and public safety leaders to formally condemn what is occurring across Minnesota and to take direct action to protect all Richfield residents who are here legally. I am the father of a two-year-old daughter. She attends a wonderful daycare here in Richfield. Many of the staff are foreign born and are in this country with legal status and valid work authorization. Despite this, daycare staff are continuously terrified of being unlawfully detained by ICE and disappeared. In response, parents at our daycare, like dozens of similar groups of parents across Minnesota, have organized to protect these educators and these and staff. We have observers on on the day on site from early morning through the evening to make sure that that everybody gets to work safely and gets home safely. We are providing rides to and from work. We are organizing food banks to support for staff for staff families who are too frightened to leave their homes to shop. It breaks my heart that all of this is necessary. Everything that everybody has spoken about here tonight. We shouldn't have to do this in a in the United States of America, but this is the reality we are facing now. In response, I asked the mayor and city council to take the following actions. First, allocate city staff to compile a public record of all ICE enforcement actions, detentions, and arrests within Richfield. documenting documenting who

was detained, when and where it occurred, legal status of the detainee, and the stated probable cause with the goal of identifying and tracking civil rights violations within our city for use in future lawsuits and prosecutions. second charged the Richfield Police Department to take direct action to prevent violations of law and civil rights by federal agents, including searches of private property without a judicial warrant or the detention or arrest of legal residents or US citizens. In closing, we are living in dark and uncertain times, but the strength of our community and the protections guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights must and will prevail. God bless the free peoples of Minnesota and the United States of America. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, is Dwayne here? All right. Um, is there anyone else who wishes to speak? Since we still have about 20 minutes left, you can fill out a card if anyone wishes to speak. All right. It looks like somebody has a card out there. Couple people. So, um, Hannah Riddle and then on deck is Angela Alexander.

Oh, yeah. This is where I should be. Okay, great. My name is Hannah Riddle. I'm a res and I am so grateful to so many who have come to share stories. Um, this is going to be emotional because I'm a mom and my son is half Latino. He's done Venezuelan and I love his spiciness. He's not afraid. He's also white passing. Um, today or not today, I'm sorry, this week. I don't even know what day of the week it is anymore. Um, he told me, "Mom, I have to hide my Latino so that ICE won't arrest me." And as a mother, you hear that and you're like, I don't I can't tell you you're wrong. Like, your kids shouldn't be afraid, but they are because their parents are being taken and someone just came to see to daycarees and my friends own a childcare center. And just this I don't even know when this was if it was last week or the week before, but I'm sitting there. I'm also on staff. I sit there and I watch for ice. That is literally what I do. 7 to 9:00 every day for my friends that her staff, including my husband can come and go in peace. And they took a teacher. They told her that her car had been hit and she left. And I arrived to drop him off and she came to the door and her wrists have handcuff marks and I'm rubbing them because I want them to go and I'm so mad and I just I'm like whatever I have to do. I have to show up. I have to help. I was at Sam's Club and a Somali woman's car is sitting there and this woman's in tears saying they they tear gas my husband.

They tear gas her husband and and we found this woman's car and I'm like her groceries are in there. Her groceries like what are we whatever but we got to get this car home. Like this car this this woman has a family who don't know where she is and her phone's in there and we open the car and we finally find someone to help us. Like I speak like And so I'm just like, okay, well, thank God other people were willing to step in. We found her nephew and they got the car back. I don't know where she is. I light a candle for her every night and I hope that she's safe. I And I patrol my kids school. I got a note today that they were on lockdown. And I go and I look and I try to help. I bring food to four families that can't leave their houses and their babies are in there with them. And I'm just I can't. I'm just Listen, I understand how complicated things are. I sit on boards. I've I I get it. But allowing your hands to be tied while the other side is disregarding all the laws is a choice. And I just encourage you all to sit with that while the rest of us are showing up for our neighbors and trying to keep them safe. Thank you.

Thank you. [applause] Ne next we have Angela Alexander. Hello, my name is Angela Alexander and I am a Richfield resident. I am also a mother of an eight-year-old daughter and I am a breast cancer survivor who has fought to be here for the last three years. Diagnosed with two forms of cancer that metastasized to my lymph nodes. That call that I got telling me you have cancer was one of the scariest moments in my life. Having eyes come into our community and terrorize people is the second scariest moment of my life. I attended the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. My undergrad is in political science and I minored in gender women sexuality studies. I was privileged enough to receive a scholarship to go and study in Buenosis, Argentina in 2007. I studied human rights violations. I studied the military state that inflicted terror on every citizen within Argentina. I see similarities of what I studied What happened in Argentina with 30,000 disappeared individuals, men, women, children.

I was given the honor to march with family members that every Thursday still protest in their plaza demanding answers, wearing signs with the pictures of their child or loved one that's disappeared and their date of birth with still no answer of where their loved one went. If we do not stand up to our federal government, the fascist dictator in office who does not honor and respect our democracy or our constitution, we will be the next Argentina. We will be the next South America living a dirty war fighting against our federal government. My 8-year-old daughter attends a Chinese immersion school. ICE has scoped out her school. We are now using the Signal app, an encrypted communication channel to communicate. We have parents riding the bus morning and afternoon. We have parents staked out. We're handing out information on how to whistle and what those signals represent. My daughter used to be afraid of monsters and I wanted to tell her that those monsters weren't real. The monsters are some of us humans that walk among us. Stand up and fight for your rights. Continue observing in a peaceful way. Do not incite violence because this will continue to escalate. We are a target. Trump is targeting the state of Minnesota. We are a blue state.

We are a harbor for the queer community and trans people. We are everything that conservative fascist right-wings hate. Fight for your rights. Thank you. Is there any It looks like there's one more person that wishes to speak or two more people. Um Katie, there's two more over there. Okay, thank you. All right. Um looks like Sam. Okay, go ahead. Can you go over to the microphone because otherwise nobody can hear you.

Thank you. Um hi, my name is Sam Worlero. I am a resident of Richfield. I am also an educator. I want to give a huge shout out to the lady a couple times ago that spoke for her help in uh the Sam's Club parking lot on Friday night. Um she was amazing and we were able to help a woman who was being kidnapped. Um our kids are scared, they're unsafe, kids are not coming to school, our businesses are hurt, doors are locked. Today I rushed elementary students in from recess because ice was nearby. Kids had no idea what was happening. They were asking why their recess was being cut short. They were slipping on ice. They were falling literally as staff had to rush outside to get them inside. That is not what their school day should look like. Teachers are exhausted. We're trying our best. It is not safe. It is a horrid reality that our government is working against us. It's a horrid reality that we need to protect our children from our own government. On Friday night, my husband and I came in a parking lot, a grocery parking lot, where a woman was loading her car with groceries. There was four plus agents, myself and my husband. Another agent pulled into the parking lot, cut my husband off, and sprayed him twice in the face with pepper spray. Then another agent turned to me and threatened to arrest me for blowing my whistle. It was myself, the elderly lady that was being kidnapped, and my husband and four plus agents. You cannot tell me that that force was needed. It was not needed. It was horrifying. I have heard many many ideas from our

community members on what you guys can do as our leaders as our voted in leaders but then I hear you guys are saying there's not much you can do I don't believe that I see my residents I see my community members putting their lives on the line literally literally I see teachers social workers principals normal people going about their day putting their lives on the lines to help our community. I believe there's more you can do. I believe those tangible items you are able to do and I would really hope you can try. Thank you. Thank you.

Um we have Mike Cuz Heather Pivka is on deck. Hi. Uh, my name is Mike Cuss. I'm a Richfield resident. I've only lived in Richfield for about five months, so total other end of the spectrum. Some other people. I, uh, wasn't expecting to talk tonight. I mostly just want to come and sit and listen. I've never been to a city council meeting before. Um, first of all, I just want to say I'm really thankful for everyone who came out and shared your stories, everyone who did all of that research and having all those great ideas. And um but I really want to just like clarify on top of all of those ideas is these aren't just suggestions. Um what we expect from our leaders are that you take these ideas seriously and respond to them. Uh so I know we have these meetings twice a month. Um what I would expect is that we have a record of all of these great ideas. I expect every single one of those to be addressed. um whether that's a a press release, Facebook post, something show us more than just we're trying but it's hard like tell us why you can't do some of these things. I fully understand things are complicated and things are nuanced but we at least deserve that. And I I would like to see uh item by item a response to if we're not able to carry out these great ideas, what is the holdup and then you know what is stopping us from that? because I believe everyone in this room would come up with any kind of resources we can to get over those hurdles, you know, if that's something more than um than federal law. So, that's all I have to say. Thanks.

Thank you,

Heather Pulfka. And then on deck is Christy um Sejurn. Hi, Heather Polifka, resident of Richfield for 18 years, and I thank everyone for sharing. I came to be more connected and know what's happening in the community. Um, and I thank you for this time to listen. Um, I agree with the recommendations and the accountability [clears throat] for them. I also want to say as a Richville resident, I don't have kids in school. So, I've had to really like seek out how I can help and show up for people I don't know. And so, my ask of you is can we mobilize our city government? Yes, it's like what can we do to hold ICE accountable, but can we like we have a neighborhood captain and I hear about the most random stuff from him, but I've heard nothing from that communication channel about how I can show up and support my neighbors and my community. We have like that's the ask I have of you is the proactiveness. Take this sense of community and love and caring and concern and mobilize it. I think that would make a profound difference and the city playing a strong role in that I think would have us all feel connected to the heart that has us live here in the first place. Thank you. Thank you. Um, next is Christy St. J and I apologize if I'm mispronouncing that. And Amanda Footer is on deck. Um hello. So I don't uh have any words prepared. Um didn't expect to speak tonight either, but felt compelled. Wanted to thank everybody for speaking and for all the suggestions. I wholeheartedly agree with all the

suggestions. I think we really need to do more. Um especially with the schools and the daycarees. um the schools I mean I have a son who is in is also in a daycare and as you know I think has been mentioned to work at a daycare um you have to have legal status which not I don't personally care about that but that's just that's just the facts and maybe this speaks to you know privilege I've had my in my life but I've never seen people so scared to come to work as the staff at our daycare and they are so wonderful and they are our village I mean it takes a village to raise a child and they are our village and to see them so scared I have never been more angry in my life and I think the other parents feel the same way and we need to do something to keep the daycarees and the schools safe at a city level. I've also been observing at local schools that requested observers and it it was literally it was just citizens showing up. I think we need to have a more organized response from the city, especially for the schools. I know that there is a volunteer form going around for the Richfield public schools. We have charter schools as well. We need if there's anything, you know, higher security, but I I don't know. Um I don't have those answers. You know, you're the government, but um it we need to do something more especially for the schools and the daycarees. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

Thank you. Can you state your name and city of residence? I'm so sorry. Chris Eastern. Richfield. Thank you. And then um Amanda Footer.

Hi. Uh my name is Amanda Foster. I'm new resident to Richfield. I've only been here since July. My wife and I moved from Alabama because of threats to our lives. Because we're queer. My mother is a Colombian immigrant. She's still in Alabama. She feels safer in Alabama at the moment than I do here in Minnesota. [snorts] I have to talk to my mother on the phone every night and reassure her that I'm okay, that the Gustafo has not come and busted down my door yet. I want to know what our council people or council can do to keep us safe. Not just me, but everybody who is like me. Everybody who either looks Latino or is white passing like I am because they're coming for all of us and we want to know we're safe. A lot of us moved up here for safety and we're not safe anymore. I have to fear every night that I may not wake up in the morning in my own house, that I may have been dragged out, or that perhaps my wife would have been just because we moved to Minnesota. Ridgefield has been a fantastic place. We have only been here a couple of months, but the community is amazing. It's outstanding, and it is because of all the different cultures that are blended here. We just want to know that you guys will do something. take all the advice that my community members are giving and hope that you guys do something to help us. More than just words. I know that everybody is kind of stuck at the moment, but there's got to be something physical that can be done at this point. Something to keep us safe. Remove the cameras. Do something to help our community members. Help with the rent. Help with the fact that there's a lot of us that or a lot of people in my community that will not be able to even get groceries.

Please just help us in some way, some fashion. Thank you very much.

Thank you. All right. At this point, I have no more cards. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? Um, seeing that, we'll close the open form. Thank you so much for showing up. Thank you for all your ideas and thank you for being there for our neighbors. We hear you. You're welcome to stick around for the rest of the council meeting. We'll be moving on to the consent calendar. So, we'll give it to um a second for the people that are leaving and then city manager Rodriguez, you can take over. One thing I did want to mention, we do

have several comments that were submitted by email that the council will be reading. Right. At this point, we're going to go on with the consent calendar. City Manager Rodriguez.

Thank you, Mayor. The consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the city council in one motion. Once the consent calendar has been approved, the individual items and recommended actions have also been approved. No further council action on these items is necessary. On tonight's consent calendar, item A, approved dispersements and claims. Item B, consideration of an extension of an American Rescue Plan Act professional services agreement with Reach for Resources. Item C, consider approval of the second amendment to the foundational public health responsibilities services agreement with the city of Bloomington for 2026. Item D, consider approval of a permit allowing MDOT to access a city-owned easement at 35177 Street West during the I 494 project 2 construction. Item E, resolution to approve Henipin County score 2026 through 2028 funding agreement. Item F, consider a cooperative agreement with the West Metro Drug Task Force. Item item G, consider an agreement with LEAC for policies 360. Item H, consider the designation of a mayor prompor for 2026. Item I, consider annual designations of acting city manager, council representatives, and the city's official newspaper for 2026. Item J, consider resolutions designating official depositories for the city of Richfield for 2026, including the approval of collateral. And I submit all of these for your consideration as part of tonight's consent calendar.

I move the consent calendar. Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent calendar. Is there any discussion? Um, city clerk Friedrich, could you please call the role then? Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke. Hi. Council member Hayford Olyri. Hi. Council member Christensen. Hi. Council member Coleman Woods. Hi. And Mayor Supple. I. Thank you. The consent calendar has passed. Next, we'll move on to the public hearing and I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Hayford.

Thank you. This public hearing is to consider and approve or consider approval of the renewal of the 2026 pond broker license for Metro Pond and Gun at 7529 Lindale Avenue South. On November 7th, 2025, the city received the application materials for the renewal of the Pond Broker license for Metro Pond and Gun Incorporated at 7529 Lindale. All required information and documents have been provided and all licensing fees have been received. Public safety director has reviewed the background information and attached documents and approves of its contents and sees no basis for denial. Due to a clerical error, the public hearing was delayed until January 13th, 2026 to allow for the public hearing notice to be published. At the council meeting on November 25th, 2025, a motion was made to extend the 2025 license to January 13, 2026 to cover the business until a new license was approved. Um staff, do you have any additional information prior to the public hearing? No, we're available for questions.

Okay. Uh the public hearing is open. Uh if anybody would like to speak, please come forward and I will read additional instructions if anybody would like to come forward or if we have a representative from Metrop. Okay. Um I would move that we close the public hearing. Second. It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing. City Clerk Fer, could you call the role, please? Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke, I. Council member Hayford Liry, hi. Council member Christensen, I. And Council Member Coleman Woods, I. Mayor Supple, I. Thank you. All right. So, we've closed the public hearing.

I move that we approve the renewal of the 2026 pond broker license for Metropon Gun at 7529 L South. Seconded. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Um, city clerk Friedrich, please call the role. Thank you, Mayor Suppel. Council member Burke, I. Council member Hayford Deliri. Hi. Council member Christensen. I, Council Member Coleman Woods. I, and Mayor Supple, I. Thank you.

Okay, we have um approved the renewal of the Palm Broker's license. Next, we'll move on to item 10A. I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Burke.

The item for consideration is the first reading of an ordinance reszoning four parcels at approximately 76th Street in Morgan from R to MR2 to facilitate construction of a new learning center for Minnesota Independence College and Community and discussion of related conditional use permits, variances, and platform. Minnesota Independence College and Community or MCC, MIC a nonprofit that provides vocational and life skills training for autistic and neurody diverent individuals has submitted an application for land use approvals to construct a two-story learning center with administrative offices on the north side of 76 Street West between Oregon and Newton avenues. The requested approvals include zoning from R low density residential to MR2 multif family residential, a conditional use permit for a learning institution, a preliminary reconigure four lots into two, one for the school and one for future development and five variances, three setback reductions, a lot coverage increase and a parking reduction. The proposed 27,978 square foot building is position positioned in the southwest corner of the site, activating the streetscape along 76 Street West and maximizing the buffer between the school and the residential properties to the north. Also, the second floor is offset from the first, enhancing the building's visual interest and providing a welcoming main entry feature on 7 Street 76 Street West. The proposed project align with the intent and policies of the comprehensive plan and complies with all zoning code requirements except as noted by the variances. As explained in the required findings, the variances are reasonable given both the surrounding context and the desire to reserve space for future development. Planning commission held a public

hearing for the resoning and proposed development on December 8th, 2025. Planning commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of both the resoning and the development proposal. The first reading of a resoning is an administrative requirement and does not obligate the council to approve the ordinance. or does it obligate the council to approve the specific development plans? The second reading and final development plans will be considered by the council on January 27th, 2026.

Yes. Thank you, Council Member Burke, members of the council. Um I did want to add that this is changing we've changed our procedures a little bit. If you'll recall, we've moved to a discussion portion of the application at first reading. um which we had previously done on consent and then had the larger discussion uh at the second reading and said we've reversed course um which you are aware of. So this is the first meeting when we'll talk about the application as a whole and um if generally the council is supportive then we would likely bring this back to you um on consent at the following meeting. So as a reminder this this is kind of the beefier of the two meetings. The other thing I wanted to mention is the number of variances. This is a high number of variances. Typically, we don't see this many, but I did want to call attention to the fact that we just redid the MR2 and MR3 zoning districts. We did a complete overhaul of what multifamily housing looks like um in those districts. What we didn't touch when we did that overhaul was non-residential buildings in those districts. So I think that what this project is showing us is maybe there um is some work for consistency there. You know in the MR2 MR3 resoning work we were looking for uh we allowed for more building coverage kind of additional density pulling buildings a little bit closer to the street in certain instances. And um that's what this project does and you have seen that through the work sessions, but our zoning code hadn't hadn't caught up with that. So this is uh staff has noted these issues and um we'll we'll make uh we'll add it to our list of things to address in the future. And then finally, I just wanted to mention that the applicant is here if you have questions for them. Otherwise,

staff will stand for questions. Great. Thank you. So I would move to approve the first reading of an ordinance change the zoning district of the subject parcels from our low density residential to MR2 multif family residential. Second. It's been moved and seconded. So now we are open for discussion. Are there any questions or comments? Um council member Hayer.

Um since this is likely to be our main discussion of the item, I just want to thank the applicant for an excellent project. Um, I'm really excited about the direction that you've taken it. I'm also just really impressed at your effort to communicate with the neighborhood and engage with them. It's a great project. It's it's a great building and it's a great community purpose as well. So, I'm glad to support it. Other comments or questions?

So, I would echo that. Um, you've been a a great asset to our community for all these decades and we appreciate all you've done for Richfield. Um, I think the project is um much better than when you first proposed it and I think it's because you listen to the people in the neighborhoods and and we've come up with a better project. So, I appreciate that. I have um would support the variances. I think the the that makes sense. I do have one question that just came into my mind tonight, so I didn't ask ahead of time. So, if you have to wait until next week to answer, that's fine, too. I know there was some discussion at one point when we were going to have residential part and a school part of what the tax status would be on those. And since the residential part's not being built, I was just curious about if that's going to be taxed like it was residential or how that would be taxed. And I don't need an answer tonight. So, if you can give me that before the next meeting, I just want to make sure we have fully have the information before us when we vote.

Yes, I can provide an update on that um as part of the packet for the next meeting. Thank you. Is there any other discussion? All right. So, we have the motion before us. City clerk Friedrich, if you would like to call the role. Yes. Thank you, Mayor Sipple. Council member Burke. Hi. Council member Hayford Deliri. Hi. Council member Christensen. Hi. Council member Coleman Woods. Hi. And Mayor Zeppel. I. Thank you. So, we've passed the first reading. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to item 10B, and I'll turn that over to Council Member Coleman Woods.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh the item for consideration is uh ahead of us is approval for excuse me the department to consider the approval of the first reading of an ordinance um amending section 3310 of the code of ordinances to establish a human resources department and add a director of human resources position. This department structure of the city of Richfield has been modified periodically to fit the needs of the organization and to adjust to external conditions. Most recently, the city of the city changed the liquor department to the liquor division in 2022 and in 2018 the finance department was reestablished. Since 2020, the human resources functions of the city have grown in importance and complexity. In addition, human resources staff and supporting staff have had to respond to a sharp increase in demand for their services. Much of this has increased challenge has increased challenged is due to external circumstances like adjusting to the pandemic. The tight labor market and new state and federal mandates. The city has had turnover in the human resources manager role due to the increasing complexity in the historically tight market for HR professionals with public sector experience. In [clears throat] researching comparably sized cities about half have ha have HR director roles and two cities upgraded the position recently. Further, we've had we have been advised by experienced HR professionals, including League of Minnesota City's staff, that recruiting for a director level role is more likely to result in an experienced and skilled candidate pool. The recommendation is to change the human resources division, which is currently part of the administrative services department to an HR department or human resources department. The HR department

would be led by the newly created human resources director and report directly to the city manager. In addition, the equity coordinator position would move to human resources from the executive department. Since the equity programs is uh is since the equity program is internally focused, this allows for more seamless progress and many equity priorities that are focused on HR functions. Recruiting and retaining talent is critical to the city's success and upgrading the function to a department and the lead role to a director position will better align with the importance and challenge of managing a human resources program. Is there any staff discussion at this time?

Yes. Thank you, council member. Um I just uh again want to remind everyone that the reason we're making this recommendation, we we have had a lot of churn in the position. Um, there is a historically tight labor market for HR professionals, particularly those with city experience and government experience. And this is what most cities are going to is an HR director position, not an HR manager position. There's been a lot of things that have happened recently that have required more expertise in the roles. U Minnesota paid leave is the most recent example. Um, and I do want to clarify the the budget impact. So, we set it at a grade 19 that is right now all of our directors are grade 20 or 21. This would be lower than current department heads and that does reflect this in the smaller size of the department. Although it would be a department of four, not three. There there would be three direct reports because we would propose moving the equity coordinator position and that whole program into the department. Um, also it's going to the specific impact of the budget would depend that manager position would be eliminated with this. So, it's not an additional person that you're adding with that full salary and benefits. It's just the differential and depending on where we hire there would be there would likely it will be more but we won't know. And then finally the um we have in that budget because we uh staff that weren't able to do all of these um extra challenges like Minnesota paid leave. So we have had to hire consultants and that is in the current budget for 2026. So there hopefully will be savings with the consultants. So I just wanted to address that as well and I have I can stand for any further questions.

Thank you. Are there any further questions? Then we could go ahead with a motion. I move to approve the first reading of the ordinance amending section 3 and 310 of the code of ordinances to establish a human resources department and add a director of human resources position. I'll second that. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there a discussion?

Um I will speak up at this point because I do think this is important. We can't afford to have um vacant positions and turnover in such a critical key point. And the fact that we're losing people to go into positions like the one we're about to create means that it would be prudent to have that so that we can stay competitive in the market because it hurts the organization to have the constant churn. So I would be in support of this. So this is our first reading and it will come back to us at the next meeting. Is there any further discussion? All right, city clerk Friedri, could you please call the role? Yes, thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke, I. Council member Hayford Olirri,

hi. Council member Christensen, I. Council member Coleman Woods, I. And Mayor Supple, I. Thank you.

We have approved the first reading. Next, we will move on to item number 11, and I'm going to turn it over to Council Member Burke. So the item for consideration is to consider a resolution approving the project layout and providing municipal consent for phase two of the I494 corridor vision project. The Minnesota Department of Transportation, MDOT, has requested municipal consent from the city of Richfield for a highway project on I494. State statute requires cities who have been asked for municipal consent to hold a public hearing within 60 days of the request. The city held the public hearing October 28th, 2025. The city must then vote on approval or disapproval of the project's layout within 90 days of the public hearing. While considering municipal consent, council members may only consider elements of the project that are within the limits of Richmondville and conditions may not be imposed based on project elements in other cities or jurisdictions. Project two of the I494 corridor vision would construct an easy pass lane on I494 between I35W and 24th Avenue. Reconstruct pavement on I35W between American Boulevard and 75th Street. Reconstruct the railroad bridge at Pleasant Avenue. Reconstruct 78th Street east of 12th Avenue. Reconstruct the I 494 Highway 77 interchange. and perform bridge deck rehabilitation on the Lindell Avenue bridge over I494. Other work in the project scope outside of Richfield includes easy pass extension on I494 between West Bush Lake Road and Highway 100 and reconstruction of the I35W 82nd Street interchange in staff have anything to add.

Thank you, mayor and council member. Uh city engineer Joe P. I'll just add that MDOT staff Ryan Wilson and Andrew Lataya are here tonight in case you have any questions for them or discussion and staff is happy to participate and answer questions as well. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, if I could just say I will say the staff recommendation at the time of the report was to approve the resolution approving it, which is normally the council member would make. I do have an alternative resolution I'd like to discuss, but it is it is your choice whether you want to have some discussion in advance of that. move that first or if you want to adopt the resolution or move to adopt the resolution approving. I am not moving to adopt the resolution right now.

So right now I think we need to have the discussion and then we'll go ahead and have a motion. Okay.

So um did you want to speak to your motion? So, just to reiterate first, and I think because this is this is new from today, I probably just want to read the entire resolution, but just to give some general background again, 76th Street and 35W has been an area of concern that the council's raised and the staff has raised in previous versions of this project. Um the Nal Creek Trail, which is one of our two regional trails here in Richfield, crosses over that interchange. And there have been significant safety issues, especially on the west leg of that, but as well as the excuse me, especially on the east leg of that adjacent to the charter school, but also on the west leg of that. Um the interchange is such a bad design because originally MDOT had proposed to create a totally different format with an additional bridge that would have brought everything to the west side in a more orderly intersection. They're no longer proposing to do that. And despite the fact that we've raised concerns and asked for incremental change um previously we haven't seen any results on that. Um so there's a lot of concerns I have about the project big picture. Um I think it is you know it's a mixed bag. There are benefits and there are costs. I will note according to the information been not provided it will worsen air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. However, we're limited in what we can ask for, what we can do, and we probably can't solve that, even if I regret that that's the direction we're going. I do think we have the ability to attach a condition to our approval to specifically address with some reasonable lowcost improvements at 76 and 35W. That was really the only ask we made of MINDOT during this project 2 process. It has not been addressed and I think we need to ask that it be addressed. Um the language of this and this is because of state statute is that technically we would be moving to disapprove it but with attaching this condition essentially if they fulfilled the condition well staff might need to correct me either it would be automatically approved or it would come back to us for reapproval but the idea is we're establishing a clear line and so just because this was just handed to you all before this um staff did draft

this I will go ahead and read the whole resolution before making any motion. So whereas the city council of the city of Richfield is the official governing body of city of Richfield, Minnesota and whereas the Minnesota Department of Transportation is developing the project to construct project two of the I494 corridor vision. Project two of the corridor vision will construct an easy pass lane on I494 between 35W and 24th Avenue. Reconstruct pavement on I35W between American Boulevard and 75th Street. Reconstruct the railroad bridge at Pleasant Avenue. Reconstruct 78 Street East to 12 12th Avenue. Reconstruct the 494 Highway 77 interchange and perform bridge deck rehabilitation on Linddale Avenue over I494. Construct ADA improvements on the impacted local system drainage improvements and construct utility relocations. And whereas Minnesota statutes 16164 provides that quote before proceeding with the construction, reconstruction, or improvement of any route on the trunk highway system lying within any municipality, the commissioner of transportation shall submit to its governing body a final layout and the project report covering the purpose, route location, and proposed designs of the highway, which must include a good faith estimate of all the costs which the government governing body is expected to participate. and the governing body shall within 60 days of receiving a final layout conduct a public hearing at which the Department of Transportation shall present the final layout within 90 days of the date of the public hearing and the governing body shall approve or disapprove the final layout in writing. And whereas the project will deliver the remaining elements of the 494 quarter vision. Whereas on August 29th, 2025, MDOT submitted the proposed final layout and other supportive materials and data to the city and requested the city's consent of the proposed final layout. Whereas the project is proposed to be administered by Mindot via the design bill project delivery method with the construction to be let in October 2026.

Whereas, pursuant to the provisions of Minnesota statute section 161 164, the city scheduled a public hearing, conducted a public hearing, provided at least 30 days notice the public hearing, and has 90 days from the date of the public hearing to approve or disapprove the proposed final layout by resolution. And whereas at said public hearing, officials at MIDOT presented plans for review and responded to public questions. and the city council received comments regarding these plans from the public and city staff and considered all the material and testimony. And whereas the I35W and 76th Street interchange in Richfield is part of the box network conformed formed by 76th Street, Penn Avenue, Lindale and 82nd Street that is intended to facilitate access to and from the interstates. And whereas the reconfiguration of the ramps at Penn Avenue and project 1 force drivers on I35W to use 76th Street or 82nd Street to access Penn Avenue. And whereas the access change is expected to increase traffic on the routes that make up the box. Whereas the city has consistently advocated for safety improvements for pedestrians and cyclists at the 76th Street and 35W interchange ramps that are traversed by a Three Rivers Park District Regional Trail. Whereas there are five schools within close proximity to this interchange and school age children must traverse those intersections every day. Whereas no safety improvements are planned with this project or programmed at a future location, a future project at this location. Therefore, be it resolved that the city council of the city of Richfield disapproves the plans and proposed final layout submitted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation on August 29th, 2025 and presented at the October 28th, 2025 public hearing. And that the city of Council of the City of Richfield request the layout be modified to include safety improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists at the I35W and 76 Street interchange. And just one additional clarification, I'll mention it in my intro. The box is basically the idea that to improve safety and mobility on the freeway, they

can push more traffic on the local streets. So that is why not only is the safety should not be resolved here, it will actually get worse because traffic is expected to increase on those ramps. So I'm not making a motion at this time because I'm hoping we'll have a general discussion, but it is my opinion that we should adopt this motion rather than the original staff recommendation. Thank you. staff, could you explain the difference between if we give approval and if we um do the motion here to disapprove? What's what are the next steps if we disapprove?

Yes. So, first to cover if the council gives approval tonight, that's the last action by the council. Uh it allows the project to to move forward without any further action. If the the council has a few other options. Uh the first would be to approve the resolution just read by council member Hayford Hayford Deliri. Uh that would disapprove the municipal consent with the condition that Mandot includes safety improvements at this this interchange. Uh MDOT would have the opportunity to respond to that and it would uh it would trigger an appeal process that's outlined in state statute. The very high level uh explanation of that appeal process is uh the city would have a chance to appoint one member to an appeal board. Uh the Minnesota DOT would have the chance to appoint one member to an appeal board and a third member would be chosen mutually agreed upon by the city and Mandot. Um the appeal board would then hear um both the city and the men and mind's positions on on the issue on the issue and um issue a basically a ruling if they agree with the city's disapproval of the layout. If they do, then Mandot has the choice to either include the improvements that we are requesting or they have a choice to not include the improve improvements and respond in writing why they are choosing to not include those improvements and then they can move forward with the project without the municipal consent. Uh the other options available to the council tonight are to disapprove the layout without any any conditions. That would trigger the same process. It would go before an appeal board. Um, the final action is if the council took no action tonight, either approving or disapproving the the project and the layout the and and then took no action within that 90-day time frame. And for reference, that 90 days is either January 26th or 27th, depending on if

you view uh the public hearing as day zero or day one. um at that 90day time frame, the the project in the layout would be considered approved with no action taken by the council.

So this may be a question for Mindot. When is this schedule? If it were approved, when would this project be scheduled to start or I mean when what would be the next part of the process? Council members, um, thank you for having us. Again, my name is Andrew Lutaya and I am the project manager for uh the I494 project 2. So, to your question, Mayor, um, the next steps would be getting the environmental document approved and once that environmental document approved, we will release the request for proposals. uh we are targeting that to happen in uh beginning of July of this year and as uh the city engineer mentioned we would be leting the project in October of 2026 with uh construction slated to begin in 2027

and if we go through the appeals process because we've disapproved this then what's the timeline then? So as uh the city engineer also alluded to this mayor um it is also it is prescribed in the state statutes like the duration of when all this has to uh play but uh if I remember correctly once the uh the appeals board hears uh both uh agencies position they have 30 days to to make a decision on uh on from what they have heard. So it all depends on how soon or how quickly uh Menad uh submits their the request for appeal. Okay. So then the project could continue on after that's resolved.

Correct. Thank you. Could I clarify something quickly with that? Yes. Go ahead. So the language in statute is if the governing body disapproves the final layout, the commissioner may make modifications requested by the municipality, decide not to proceed with the project or refer the final layout to the appeal board. So am I misunderstanding that? Or could they in fact just make these cost um safety improvements without referring it to the appeal board or perhaps not knows. Can can you just make a change and then can we all say we're good or do you does it have to go to the appeal board?

No. No. So, uh there is there is well and I have guidance that uh the state has been following um council member menat can accept the condition and include them as part of the project and then we'll have to come back and get approval from from city council but not through the normal process. Right. So there is a condition that we could do that. Yes. Okay. And I will just obviously things need to be figured out and even if we're voting for this, but I am hopeful that our ask is narrow and cost effective enough that something like that can be done. So if I'm understanding correctly, then you could accept it and then we just have to come back and take another vote at the next council meeting.

We Yes. Men that could accept it and come back to seek approval from the city on the layout. Yes. And I at some point would like clarification about whether or not the next council meeting is in the time limit or if we're one day off and we have to schedule a different meeting. We need to get that cleared up quickly. So I don't know if we have the answer tonight, but we need to know what where we started counting for the 90 days so that we're following statute. Sure. No. May I follow up on that and give you the specific date? Yes.

All right. So I have a different question on a different topic. Um, and so I'm gonna talk speak to that right now. Um, the cities that are along 494, including Richfield, rely on the 494 conveyance system to move storm water to the Minnesota River. And I'm a bit troubled by the fact that, if I understand correctly, we're constructing a $350 million dollar project. $350 million project with no additional storm water infrastructure that would allow for additional future storm water flow from Richfield to 494. So, it's going to take what we said is the capacity now, but if you know we're in kind of in a climate crisis and it seems like that our storm s sewers are undersized and flooding is increasingly common as are droughts. So, there's a that it could project in the future and it doesn't seem like you have any wiggle room there. And so I'm wondering how we're going to deal with that if we're building something that doesn't have any wiggle room and if the climate crisis gets worse. Um, I'm assuming that you're aware that the storm water capacity challenges Bloomington currently faces and I know Richfield staff has shared with you the need to mitigate flooding in southeast Richfield that relies on that same conveyance system on 494 to move water to the Minnesota River. So, we are seriously considering that excluding expanded storm sur infrastructure from project 2 could eliminate future opportunities to that flooding in southeast Richfield. So that's very concern uh very concerning to all of us. So as

owners of that 494 conveyor system, I would like you to let us know what is MDOT's legal obligation to provide adequate storm water conveyance capacity to the area. So that's my question and this is not going to affect my vote one way or the other but I want to know what the what your legal obligation is because I'm really worried that we have not built in any capacity for any increased storm water stuff.

Sure. Uh mayor and council members another great question. So and luckily enough um we we got a chance to to hear from city staff prior to this meeting and helped us to prepare for a question like this. So yes, uh the drainage law. So I may maybe just quickly spell out uh the actual statute. So 103E is the state statute. And the section that would um apply to amend that is 103E 721 and 103E.80. So just in in quick summary, yes, as uh a land owner, uh Mendad and applies to the city or any other land owner is obligated to perpetuate the existing drainage uh on to uh onto its system. Meaning we cannot block uh uh drainage flow from adjacent properties. However, the caveat in there is that uh we perpetuate uh the condition when the system is built. So what that means is that um in in this situation the the drainage system for 494 was built around 19 like in the late 1960s and that is the condition that Menad is obligated to meet. Uh so that's by so in terms of the obligation that is the obligation. We however have worked with uh city staff on on the 494 corridor and there have been drainage improvements uh accommodated. speaking to project one uh and also part of project two where we upsized uh some of the uh the infrastructure on along the furnish roads and again that was uh an opport that was a way of trying to

accommodate or help out um uh drainage concerns on adjustment properties but similar to the city mendat also was experiencing flooding on 494 so we had to figure out a way of solving the flooding problem on 494 and we're very aware of the constraints that existing system has and how much uh prohibitive uh the costs of upgrading or upsizing that system uh would be. We have worked again with city staff. We have worked with city council Richmond city council. We have worked with uh communities along the corridor expressing a similar issue that uh budget constraints are real. uh we have also constraints on the amount of space or land that is there to accommodate any uh expansion on the uh on the system. So all in short summary to say that yes we are obligated to accommodate flow but uh we are not obligated to accommodate increase in flow because again we as an agency as well like any other public agency have budget constraints that we have to be cognizant of and therefore be able to accommodate but we are able to.

Thank you. I would strongly advocate that when you do projects that are further east because that you look at this problem some more because I know one of the things you said the constraints were is when you go east of 24th Avenue the pipes are too small. So if we put in big enough pipes now so that someday when you redo that section we could possibly look at fixing the problem. I think that would be prudent and a good use of taxpayer money. So I would advocate for that. But I wanted to bring this up in public so people are thinking about it and aware of it. Thank you. Um did you want to go ahead with your motion?

Yes. Um I will move that we approve the resolution disapproving municipal consent subject to the condition described earlier. I'll second that. All right. So you're saying that we should disapprove disapprove with the condition specific to 76 and 35W.

Right. because it was kind of confusing to say you're approving disapproval. So, I want to make sure we're all clear on what we're voting on. All right. So, now we are open for discussion. Council member Burke, I have a number of other disappointments to be quite honest. already think it's the air. I understand that we really can't do much about that. However, this is something that we can do something about and it seems like a pretty easy fix. I know people travel on that on that road and certainly if it's in the power of the state to make sure that they can travel safely at this time, it's very important to do that. So important that I think it's appropriate for the city to consent unless something is done.

Thank you. Any other discussion? I think we all understand what the vote is at this point. So, um, city clerk Friedrich, if you could call the role. Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Uh, council member Burke. Hi. Council member Hayford Olyri. Hi. Council member Christensen. Hi, Council Member Coleman Woods. Hi, and Mayor Supple. I thank you. All right. And so we will move forward with the process. Thank you for your time and we appreciate working with you and we look forward to resolving this issue.

Next, we'll move on to the city manager report. Thank you, mayor. Um, there were four speakers at our last open forum. That was the special meeting on December 22nd. Um, one spoke in support of ICE, two with concerns, and a speaker complimented the plow crews. There were no questions. Um, I do, and I'll be brief because I know it's been a long night, but I do want to thank all the speakers tonight. Um, sorry. uh staff are trying to keep up and how our city has been impacted and it is heartbreaking to learn more tonight. It is important to share that many of the staff share their concerns and frustrations and are also volunteering to help Richfield and their communities in similar ways. Um that said, we we will review the suggestions shared tonight and see if we can do more.

Thank you. Um, Council Member Hayeri,

I appreciate hearing more of the review at the next meeting if there are anything that should be addressed via ordinance. There's any way to accelerate that process because I wouldn't want to like bring something back for informal discussion and then do the two week and then do the two week. And I do want to specifically call out there are a number of things where I don't I don't know what we can do and what we can't do. One thing that we could do that I know we can do, although there may be trade-offs, is getting rid of those block cameras. And I I want to express that I have had concerns for months and I continue to have concerns and I think people raised good questions. I know that we are doing as much as we can to be responsible with that data and I know there have been some public safety benefits but we are ultimately giving money to an organization that is supporting ICE um whether they're using our data or not. And frankly I don't know how confident we can even be that they're not using our data because they have a terrible security record. There's been significant reporting by 404 media about massive leaks, including accidentally releasing 2.5 million American license plates to the public. Um, it is really troubling and I think we need to take a deep, urgent, and serious look at having any anything to do with luck. Thank you.

Council member Her, can I clarify what was the first comment about the ordinance? Um, that if there is something narrow to bring back, I would like it'd be nice to like have a first reading on that agenda. Okay. Regarding regarding probably the the public parking lot thing was the one that came to mind. I don't I have other questions about things like eviction moratorium, whether that's prudent or even legally feasible, but Okay. The parking lot thing is common. Thank you.

I believe they said they were talking about putting an emergency ordinance in place. So, I'm assuming that the timeline might be expedited on that versus a regular ordinance. And so I would think that we should look into that and see what we can do in the timeline because I I believe that's the purpose of an emergency ordinance to be able to expedite it and not have to go through a long period of time. Um are there other items that anybody wants to bring up at this point? Council member Burke.

Uh the ones that I would like to see of the proposals that we heard is I would like to see more especially done on the eviction moratorum and I think it It can be tailored very narrowly. It can say that if if it's shown that the non-payment of rent is due to verified ice activity for that household or individual. I think by making it that narrow, some of the possible concerns about just a blanket moratorium would be addressed. And then um I hope the city and I hope we can work on seriously considering joining that lawsuit. Um, I think it would be something to have not only the core cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, but start get suburbs involved in that litigation and it would be great if Richfield led the way. Those are the two I would ask.

I uh completely agree that I would support um any action going towards going forward towards the uh eviction moratorum, emergency action towards the um prohibiting uh the appearance of these u domestic terrorists, what I want to call them, uh at our schools. Um it's it's uh it is going to have a profound mental health impact on our kids. Uh it is going to cost us more money. It is going to uh be I mean I could go on. So I will support any anything that uh we can come up with for all of the above. Yes, I would be in support of an emergency ordinance that has to do with um keeping people out of the parks and that type of thing. And the flat cameras, I think we need to turn them off at least temporarily until this situation is passed. Um and I know there were some questions of things like the public health impact and um whether public safety could um issued traffic um violations and things like that. So, if we could just get the information on that so that we can report back on what's feasible and what isn't because that was one of the requests is to please let people know what is um available and what isn't. And I would agree with um that we need to do something about the rental crisis because it is real and it is going to be hitting soon. So, if we can find ways to um help facilitate funding for people through emergency things, I know there are groups that do that like VEP and this Henipin County and just even to get resources to people of where they could find funding and look at something to do

with the eviction crisis as well. Um and then I think looking at the if we could be friend of the lawsuit, I don't know how all that works because I'm not a lawyer, but I think that would be appropriate. So, any other questions or comments? Uh, can we immediately stop sharing the the flock camera data? I mean, that's not shared. I think perhaps the city manager could consult with the police chief and give us an update over email over what the options are there. Okay, thank you. Um, at this point, we'll move on. Um, anything else? City Manager Rodriguez.

No, not at this time. Okay. At this point, then we'll move on to the hats off to Hometown Hits. Um, Council Member Christensen, did you want to add have a hat? Uh, no. All right.

All right. Thank you, Council Member Coen Woods. I do want to give a um a shout out to our neighbors who have who have come together. said it before and I'll say it again. We stand stronger together um than we do divided and I will continue to encourage our law enforcement and I am grateful for them that they can protect us from anything now at this point. Um and hope that they can continue to intervene when legally authorized. Thank you, Council Member Hayer.

No items tonight. Council member Burke.

Thank you. I also wish to thank all of the open forum speakers. It was very powerful hearing from our community and I appreciate all the research and ideas that people did. Um, I do want to thank our local law enforcement, public safety people because I know I've heard from a number of people, and I've seen it myself, that when it's um, pickup or dismissal time for schools, there are patrol cars going by to make sure that our kids are safe and are monitoring the areas. And that is greatly appreciated because it's been noticed by the people that are there um, trying to have a watchful presence at schools and they're that the police force is also there having a watchful presence. I appreciate all the people that have respond officers that have responded to 911 calls with their body cameras on so that they're documenting everything that's happening. And we truly appreciate that the um excellent training, the professionalism, and the discipline of our officers as they deescalate lots of situations that they didn't create, but they help to keep people and I appreciate that. Um, I also want to do a pitch for people to support our local businesses. It's having a huge impact on them and if you can get out there and support our local businesses, if it's safe for you to be out and about, please help our local businesses. Um, Council Member Burke mentioned the ACLU line um website where you can report rights violations by ICE or federal um forces and the address for that is www.aclu-n.org and they are compiling those types of violations. Um, finally, on a more cheerful note, we

were featured in the last um, uh, issue of the AARP magazine. Now, you have to be a member to see this, so a lot of people don't know about it, but they have a whole section on great and affordable places to live in the United States. And Richfield, Minnesota was one of the features. And they did like livability index and we did a great job and we're on there. So I we can't figure out how to do the payw wall to share the article, but if you know somebody that's an AARP member, it was in the last issue and you can look at it. So with that, thank you everyone. If um you so wish, we can move to adjourn.

I make a motion to adjourn. I'll second. It's been moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting. City Clerk Fer, could you take the roll call, please? Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke. Hi. Council member Hayford Olyri. Hi. Council member Christensen. Hi. Council member Coleman Woods. I. And Mayor Supple. I. Thank you. We stand a journ. Thanks everyone.