Council - Regular Meeting

Yep, we're ready to go here in about 30 seconds. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Richfield City Council. It's June 23rd, 2026 at 7 p.m. If you're able, please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Now we're going to move on to one of the favorite things we do each year. It's one of the best meetings. We're going to go on to the Jean and Mary Jacobson Award Ceremony. The Richfield Human Rights Commission has selected a Citizen of the Year recipient since 1971. The award was given to a family, group, organization, business, or individual who lives or works in Richfield and whose actions demonstrate an awareness and commitment to the attitudes and practices that foster human understanding, tolerance, and the spirit of human relations. So at this point, I'm not going to give away who the winner is, but I'm going to let the chair of our Human Rights Commission, Valerie Hearst Baker and Kim Jacobson, come up and present the award winner and tell you all about her. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, everyone, for being here tonight. One second here so I can load my list. I am Valerie Hearst Baker. I'm the chair this year for the Richfield Human Rights Commission. And one of our favorite things is selecting the Gina Mary Jacobson Award winner every year. This year, we had the best kind of challenge in that we received so many nominees for the award. Despite the horrendous events that our community witnessed this winter, The silver lining is that it allowed us to see the remarkable work that our neighbors do every day for those living in the community, regardless of what you look like, where you come from, what language you speak. And so we, as a commission, had a challenge to choose a winner for this year's award. And we wanted to do things a little bit differently and invite all of the nominees as well to celebrate with us. And several of you were able to make it. So thank you to all of the nominees, the award winner, and all of the supporters who came here. Before I turn it over to Kim, I'll just name off the nominees. If you'd like to, you're welcome to stand. So the nominees this year were Brianna Darling, Carl Herman, Kimberly Anderson, Melissa Gonzalez, Maria Day, Jacqueline Sanchez Vidal, Margaret Perez, and Jonathan Sabellos. Congratulations to everyone. And now for the fun part, I'm going to turn things over to Jean and Mary Jacobson's son, Kim Jacobson.

Madam mayor council. Thank you. It's always a pleasure to come and give this award. My mom and dad, sorry about scratchy throat. My mom and dad lived out, bought a home here on Wentworth after the war and lived out their lives in Richfield. And in that process, they gave a lot of contribution to the community. And so many of the things that we have that we take for granted, like paved streets and schools and hockey rink and pool and all that, were a byproduct of the council and mayor in that time pulling those amenities for us together. I live in South Minneapolis now, but I shop in Richfield because, well, it's a good place. And one of the things about this award, it seems to always go to someone who really... really gave a lot to the community and is well-deserved.

And with that, Maria, there you are.

I think I'll read this because it's kind of nice. The Jean and Mary Jacobson Outstanding Citizen Award. This award is presented by the Richfield Human Rights Commission in recognition of your contributions toward fostering and promoting human understanding, tolerance, and a spirit of human relations to you. Thank you, everybody. Another year gone by, and I'm sure there'll be another bevy of wonderful people to contribute next year. Thank you.

Maria, would you like to say a few words?

Hold on, I have to find my picture because I knew I'd be nervous. I want to say thank you so much. Receiving the Gina and Mary Jacobson Outstanding Citizenship Award is an honor and leaves me incredibly humbled. As everyone in this room knows, no one builds a strong community alone. This award does not belong to me. It belongs to the spirit of Richfield and the remarkable organizations that show up every single day to ensure our neighbors are loved, safe, and supported. I want to accept this award on behalf of partnerships like VEEP, RCSN, St. Stephen's, Diaper Depot, and all of you that donated to the Richfield Little Pantry. And a word like this is simply a reflection of what happens when we refuse to look away from each other's needs. It is about turning quiet care into collective action. I am deeply grateful to the city of Richfield, to my family, for all their endless support, and all the volunteers and leaders that showed up. Let's keep loving our neighbors, let's keep building Richfield, and make sure that everyone belongs. Thank you.

And now we're going to briefly pause if you want to come up and get pictures with all your families and supporters.

All right. One, two, three.

Yeah, smaller people in front.

Okay, we are now moving on to approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda?

So moved. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? We've approved the agenda. Next, we'll move on to approval of the meeting minutes from the City Council regular meeting from June 9th, 2026 and the City Council special meeting from June 16th, 2026.

I move approval of both sets of minutes. Second.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Are there any corrections or additions or discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have approved both sets of minutes. Next, we'll move on to the open forum. Participants can share their comments in person by voicemail or email and may also request to participate virtually. For more information on submitting comments, refer to the council agenda and minutes page on richfieldmn.gov slash city council. So the way we're going to work this is when your name is called, if you could come up and tell... State your name and your city of residence before speaking. You have three minutes. We'll hold up a yellow card if you are approaching 30 seconds of your time running out. And then when the time runs out, we'll put the red card up. So at this point, I have a card for Birgit Johnson.

Birgit Johnson, Richfield. Language evolved over time by people of groups moving away from other groups and being separated, so becoming isolated from each other. People left some words by the way others kept them and pronunciation diverged. It is much like political persuasions. We are not isolated by distance or geography. We are isolated by technology and staying in our bubbles. We live in our ego chambers, not isolated by geography and not knowing the other language. We keep ourselves shut off from others. This creates the others when a group of people then looks at another group as the lesser. We also have a loneliness epidemic with more and more people finding companionship online. People have removed themselves from reality. It is not my thing to go out much. Much of my free time is spent birding, preferably alone. Since January 13th, 2026, though, I have been attending as many City Council meetings as possible. At the City Council meetings, I also spoke several times at the Open Forum. Recently, I also attended two events, Cones with Carbs and Kick Off for Summer at City Hall, and visiting the Farmer's Market. I applaud the efforts to reach the community at the Farmer's Market. with the park and recreation staff introducing the master plan and asking our input on the master plan. At both events and the farmers' market, people were mingling. People with opposing political views were able to connect and participate. And city leaders, those who make policy, those who serve us, were there to mix it up with the public as well as being accessible. We need to do that. We need to do more of it. I urge our leaders to do even more outreach and to respond to the people consistently. Our leaders are part of our community. We are a social animal and do not thrive in isolation. Perception of ostracism is taking feeling of belonging. This is a comment from environmental friends of Wetzpark's Facebook page. Local government has never followed its own master plan. It won't start now. This came from a disillusioned person. There is a lot of anger and mistrust towards government. My favorite personal protest sign says, no bully leadership. When we ourselves engage with the other people around us, they become real and we can see their humanity. Step out and talk to each other. We ourselves are the others. When there are no others, there is we. Communication is our way out, and it depends on it, little by little.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who wishes to speak for OpenForum? One last call. Anyone else who wishes to speak for OpenForum? All right. And thank you to our speaker. We'll close out open forum at this point and move on to a presentation. This is going to be a receipt of the city of Richfield annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2025. And I'm going to turn it over to finance director, Mary Bogie, who I believe is going to introduce our auditor. Thank you, and thank you to all the staff for the preparation. Go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. Yes, I'm Caroline Stutzman. I'm the partner involved in your audit, so I'd like to take a few minutes of your time tonight to go through the results of the audit for 2025. To start things off, the main reason you ask us to work with you is to provide an opinion on the financial statements. Those financial statements, or that opinion is housed within the independent auditor's report. Also within the independent auditor's report, both management's responsibilities as well as our responsibilities is outlined. Management's responsibilities are for the fair preparation of the financial statements in accordance with GAAP. Really what that means is management is determining the numbers, they're calculating the numbers, then we are responsible for obtaining reasonable assurance that those financial statements are free of material misstatement. doing all the things audit to be able to provide the opinion. And then, as mentioned, the opinion we're providing is an unmodified opinion, meaning we do believe the financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects as of December 31st, 2025. So outside of looking at the numbers, which I kind of just touched on, we also conducted our audit in accordance with government auditing standards. That requires us to consider internal controls as well as evaluate compliance. One item of note there it is one that we've touched on in previous years It is just inherently present for you with the amount of duties that overlap and it's very very common for that finding to be present in some way shape or form for many of the cities and other entities that we work with as well, so very common in addition because the city spent more than a million dollars worth of federal dollars in a given year. A federal single audit was also applicable this year, and two programs were tested, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouch Program as well as the Economic Development Initiative, and there were no findings related to any of that test work either. And then one final component before we look at the financial analysis is in regards to Minnesota legal compliance. The Office of the State Auditor compiles a number of Minnesota state statutes for us to ask questions about as we go throughout our test work as well. No findings related to any of that either. So great job all around on that. One more actually, perfect. So we start here in the financial analysis kind of high level with the general fund. We have total revenues here and total expenditures showing that both increased. We'll look at some of the details of that in the future slides. But it's also showing total fund balance and where it ended for the year. And it did increase. And the component of fund balance that you analyze is in relation to your fund balance policy. Your fund balance policy indicates that you would have, or you strive to have a minimum unassigned fund balance of 40% of the current year. Expenditures and if you run the calculations for this year you are at forty three point four percent So you are in compliance with the policy that you have established for yourselves Here we have general fund revenues I'm showing kind of by category here in total general fund revenues did increase about six point seven percent for the year kind of across the programs that you're seeing property taxes increase there was an increase in the levy and Licenses and permits increased. There was additional building activity during the year. Intergovernmental revenue increased as well. There was additional state grants and aids. And then the charges for services also experienced an increase. There were fee increases as well as increased right-of-way permits that were resulting from the internet fiber installation. We have a similar chart then looking at your general fund expenditures. Next, yep, there we go. In total, general fund expenditures increased about 2.5% for the year. Public safety increasing as a result of an increase in grant spending and contracted services with Bloomington. Fire expenditures increased, there was an increase in staffing and wages. And then administrative services and finance expenditures decreased with the staffing changes from this year compared to last year. And then public works increased as well as a result of that US fiber installation. component we touched on. Next, we have a budget to actual comparison here. The first column is the final approved budget, anticipating that fund balance would break even. Actual results are in that middle column, showing the increase of 1.7 million. And then if we look at that far right column, that's the variance column. So if we look for some of the variances, total revenues, all the way over to that far right column, we see over budget there, if we apply a percentage to that, it's 2.6%. And really when you're looking at the variances that you see there by category, The explanation for all of them are conservative budgeting, and many of them are ones that can change just based on activity. You're building activity, investment values right at December 31st, so very common to have that approach from a revenue perspective. Following the chart down, total expenditures, again, that far right column. See under budget, if we apply a percentage to that, it's 0.4%. So when you're looking at the size of budget that you're dealing with to be less than half a percentage off, I'd say that's about as close as you can get. So great job there. Here we have the tax capacity, the levy, and the tax capacity rates. So the blue is the tax capacity showing a decrease for the year. And the levy increased, as we touched on earlier already. So kind of the pure mechanics of the fluctuation of those two components led to that tax capacity rate increasing slightly for the year. Then we switch gears a bit and look at your enterprise funds. So here we have the liquor fund. Both sales and cost of sales did decrease for the year. That's been a common theme that we've been seeing around the state with municipal liquor stores, just that that activity is declining slightly. The end of the day, though, gross profit percentage, if we flip to the next slide here, did increase slightly from the prior year. And we also have some neighboring cities here for comparison for you. And you're below two of them and above one. So just additional information for you from a comparative standpoint. Next, we have the Water and Sewer Utility Fund. Charges for services did increase here, right around 7%. There was an increase in rates and customers. And then operating expenses were down. There was a decrease in project costs. So at the end of the day, there was operating income for this fund, both with and without depreciation expense. So you're covering depreciation expense with the charges for services that you have. And then the final chart I have for you is the storm sewer funds, a similar chart that we just looked at, showing that charges for services did increase about 6%. It was an increase in usage. And then on the operating expense side of things, seeing an increase here as well. There were additional repair and maintenance costs related to some warranty work for the pond dredging projects, so some activity there. So as a result of some of those additional expenses this year, we did experience an operating loss, but it's explained through what we just mentioned. Happy to take any questions anyone may have for me as well.

Did we have any questions? Council Member Burke?

In the report it mentioned, and I think in the summary it mentioned something about the adequate segregation of accounting duties could you describe that for members of the public may not understand what that is and in your report it said that In spite of the fact that the city has that, it didn't affect the accuracy of the records. Could you explain that also?

Yeah, so that's really the part I was touching on there with the amount of duties that overlap. Essentially, with kind of all the cycles that you have, disbursements, whether it's regular disbursements, payroll, receding process, you'd need to have four separate individuals for all of those to have fully segregated duties. And so with the amount of staffing that you have, and others are in the same boat, it's rare to have that fully segregated. So it's just touching on the fact that that's present for you. You do have mitigating controls in place for where those situations are for other sets of eyes to look at things. So that's that secondary part that you were asking about.

So the public should be certain that this is highly accurate in spite of the challenges the city's had with staffing? Yes. Okay, great, thanks.

Additional questions? I also wanted to just say thank you again. Thank you to, um, the auditors and thank you to our staff. Um, I know this is going to sound nerdy, but it's really cool when you're reading through there and you see all of the details and all of the things that are going on. And, and I would really encourage people to look at it. There's like a whole demographic thing there that does a 10 year study of like who the, um, biggest employers were and how that's changed in the last 10 years or who, um, what percentage of the tax base things are, and there's all kinds of just really interesting things that are in there. So if you're into that kind of thing, there's over 150 pages of this report, and it does have a lot of really good details. So thank you for the thorough job. Thank you for the timely job, and we appreciate all of that. With that, are there any other questions?

Mayor, I do want to remind you that this is an action item.

So we do have to go ahead and do that. All right, so let's.

I do want to compliment the staff and our auditors for getting that to us in like a record speed. I don't know. That seems like a feat in itself. So thank you so much.

All right. Any other comments or questions? Otherwise, I'll move to accept the annual comprehensive financial report for the year ended December 31st, 2025. Is there a second? I'll second that. It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have accepted the report. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to the consent calendar, and I'll turn it over to City Manager Rodriguez.

Thank you, Mayor. Sorry, while I get it up here. 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, approve disbursements and claims. Item B, consider resolution of support for project submittals for the 2026 Metropolitan Council Regional Solicitation. Item C, consider approval of a request for three new secondhand goods dealer licenses for EcoATM LLC. Item D, consider approval of a temporary on-sale intoxicating liquor license for the Richfield Foundation's wine tasting event scheduled for Thursday, October 8, 2026, in the atrium area of Woodlake Center, located at 6601 Lindale Avenue South. Item E, consider approval of a temporary on-sale intoxicating liquor license for the Fred Babcock Days event scheduled to take place August 1st, 2026 at Fred Babcock BFW number 5555, located at 6715 Lakeshore Drive. Item F, appoint 2026 election judges for the primary and general elections. Item G, consider adoption of a resolution authorizing the city to affirm the monetary limits on statutory municipal tort liability. Item H, consider approval of an agreement with preferred properties in the amount of $263,970 for the replacement of exterior soffit on rink one of the Richfield Ice Arena. And I submit these for your consideration as part of the consent calendar. Thank you.

I move approval of the consent calendar. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent calendar. Is there any discussion? I did want to say kudos to the Public Works Department for putting in the six regional solicitation project submittals. Four of them are for active transportation and two are for federal help with roads and things like that. It's a lot of work to put those in, but it does a great benefit to the community if we get selected for those. Hats off to them, I guess, early. Any other questions? All right, all in favor of approving the consent calendar, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we've approved the consent calendar. Next, we will move on to item 11A, which is a proposed ordinance, and I'll turn it over to Council Member Hayford-O'Leary. Okay. Thank you.

This is the first reading of an ordinance amending subsection 840.11 of the Richfield City Code regarding alcohol in city parks. City Code Chapter 7, Section 840 contains ordinances pertaining to park use. In Section 840.11, the sale, possession with intent to consume or consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited in parks except for two situations expressly permitted. The first is as part of a city council authorized community celebration of Veterans Memorial Park. The second is by a junior hockey team at the ice arena. Those two exceptions were added piecemeal as the need arose. Based on city council feedback, staff have drafted a comprehensive update to the ordinance that would allow first, alcoholic beverages at Woodlake Nature Center and the community center. Second, alcoholic beverages less than 17% alcohol by volume at the Richfield Ice Arena and city sponsored events. And third, community celebration license holders to sell alcoholic beverages less than 17% in designated areas. Anybody selling or consuming alcohol in designated areas would need, first, appropriate permits and licenses from the city and state, second, written approval from the Recreation Services Director, and third, identification agreement with the city if deemed appropriate. The update to this ordinance will provide the city with flexibility in managing alcohol use in the parks. Is staff have anything to add before I make a motion?

Nothing to add.

Okay.

I will move that we approve the first reading of an ordinance amending subsection 840.11 with the code of ordinances pertaining to alcohol and parks and schedule the second reading for July 14th, 2026.

I would second the motion.

It's been moved and seconded and so now we're open for discussion. Council Member Hayford-Leary.

I just want to say I'm happy with the direction this has taken. I think this did a good job representing our feedback. I would say it's not in the ordinance, which is why I didn't bring it up in advance. I will say my only sort of outstanding concern is still just the cost to holders, particularly related to the license expectation we have of an off-duty officer being present for the whole event. And I encourage staff to continue to look at that, especially for very small events, if that's completely necessary. But I'm very happy with the language, and I support the language that we are changing today.

Council Member Burke.

Thank you. I did have a question about the pool area. That would be considered part of the park system. And if someone could make a request of the director to allow alcohol beverages in the pool for a function, would this ordinance allow that? Or is that somewhere else not permitted at all?

It's an area that is part of the parks. Yeah, it is an area part of the parks, but they would need to get a celebration license in order to have alcohol there, or it would need to be part of a city-sponsored event for that to happen, and we tend to discourage having alcohol near the pool for safety reasons generally.

And that's why I bring it up, and would it be easier if the ordinance made it clear that there would be no alcoholic beverages in the pool area. Would it be easier for the director, instead of the director having to deal with that all the time? Because if so, I would be willing to make an amendment to make it clear that, you know, alcoholic beverages will not be in the pool area.

I guess staff wouldn't be opposed to that, but I don't believe it's necessary to manage alcohol in the pool area.

Has there ever been a function or an occasion, as far as you know, that alcohol has been used or served in the pool area?

No. Up until now, alcohol has never been allowed in the pool area. Okay.

Thank you.

Um, further discussion or comments?

Well, I guess my comment is I'm, I'm still tempted to, I feel like I'm still thinking about whether there's a need to make an amendment to make it clear. Um, I certainly trust the director's judgment and I'm, you know, I feel better to know that it's never occurred in the past. Um, and then part of me would like it, you know, really clear that the ordinance doesn't permit any alcoholic beverages in the pool there. I mean, it seems like a pretty obvious place to not have alcohol. Um, for a number of reasons. You mentioned safety. But I wonder, I apologize for thinking out loud about this, but whether there's a need for an amendment to make that clear. Any other help or comment with that?

Council Member here for Leary.

I would just say, given that there's pretty broad discretion, like they have to get written permission from the Recreation Service Director, and Carl or a successor could choose to deny it for that reason, I I think it's fine leaving it at a staff level. It's hard to picture a specific situation in which that might be okay, but I guess I don't see a reason to prohibit it in the code when in all likelihood it's not going to be requested, and even if it is, the director has discretion to not allow it for safety reasons.

Council Member Burke? Do we still want to have the possibility of alcohol being... I mean, if it's pretty clear that the council's in agreement that we trust the director's discretion, but As a policy, you know, we can't think of an occasion where we would want alcohol there. What's the harm or why would we not want to have it in the ordinance?

I guess I'm just not sure. I mean, I'm thinking of like private pools, like Lifetime Fitness serves alcohol at their pool. I actually even on the pool tour asked if that's ever something that is looked at, even at a municipal level. I guess I don't see a reason to bar it in ordinance, even though it seems unlikely to be a useful option.

Other thoughts?

No, I'm okay with the way it reads.

I am also. Okay. So then at that point, is there any further discussion? Then I'm going to call the question. So we have a motion to approve the first reading. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? And we've approved the first reading. Thank you. And thank you for all of the changes you made in response to feedback from the council discussion at work sessions. We appreciate that. Next, we're going to move on to item 12 a, and I'm going to turn that over to council member Christensen.

Thank you, mayor. This is item for consideration is the resolution related to the amended 2026 general pay plan. Currently, the 2026 general pay plan lists the pay grades for nonrepresented permanent full-time and part-time city employees, including the position of city manager. The established pay plan lists grades one through 22 with the city manager position slotted into grade 22. After reviewing the current base salary of the city manager within our comparable communities group, it was determined that the market has shifted and our current pay plan does not provide for increases over $206,044 annually, which is well below the market average of approximately $230,000 for salary only and two hundred thirty seven thousand dollars worth additional compensation like car allowance and deferred compensation contributions staff recommends that adding three additional pay grades twenty three twenty four twenty five is shown in the attachment the maximum of the proposed pay grade twenty five would be two hundred thirty eight thousand five hundred twenty two dollars additionally in order to mean to remain equitable within the market and to remain competitive in recruiting for this position in the future, staff recommends reclassifying the city manager position into grade 25. Before I make the motion, is there any comments from the city staff?

Yes, thank you, council member. I wanted to introduce our new HR director, Kate Coteau, and she can provide some more information on the staff report.

Hi, everyone. Thank you, Mayor and Council. It's nice to meet you. I'm happy to be here. So as we kind of heard in the executive summary, this is pertaining to our 2026 general pay plan, which covers our nonrepresented full-time, part-time employees, which includes the city manager. So The way that this was established we contracted with Baker Tilly, which is a compensation consultants in about 2023 to establish the pay plan during I guess since that time a lot of things have shifted in the market and There's also been some legislative changes that have pertained to a salary cap for city managers and so the market has changed and our pay plan is annually moves only by the cost of living. So that's been about 3%. So the additional pay grades would allow us to maintain a competitive, equitable plan to slot our city manager position and also give us more room in the event that we need to look at other positions within the pay plan.

Thank you and welcome.

Thank you.

Are there questions or comments?

All right. If you want to go ahead and make the motion. Okay. By motion, we approve to approve the amended 2026 general pay plan.

I'll second the motion.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there further discussion? I wanted to highlight something that was in the historical context of the staff report that you had alluded to as well. that in 2023, the legislature officially removed the compensation cap for local government employees, allowing cities and counties to determine their own pay limits. Prior to this change, local government employee salaries were strictly limited by state statute to 110% of the governor's pay, requiring governments to apply for waivers to retain or recruit top talent. And in the years following the legislative change, city manager position salaries increased to catch up with the market for similar positions in other states. So this is all based on the market. Any other questions or comments? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have passed the amended pay plan. Next, we'll move on to the summary of the city manager's annual performance evaluation for the period of July 2025. to June 2026, held on June 9th and June 16th, 2026, as required by Minnesota Statute 13D05 Subdivision 3A, and consider a resolution amending the employment agreement between the City of Richfield and City Manager Katie Rodriguez. Each year, the City Council conducts a review of the City Manager's performance for the previous year. The review considers the performance of the City Manager and the organization as measured against the goals expectations of the City Council. Such performance evaluations are conducted in a closed session pursuant to Minnesota State statutes and summarized in an open meeting. In addition to the performance evaluation, the City Council also takes this opportunity to review the City Manager's salary and benefits to make any adjustments that may be warranted. As I mentioned State statutes requires us to summarize in an open meeting what was conducted during the closed meeting. And so the council would like to say that Katie has done an outstanding job over her tenure as city manager. We appreciate her initiatives to improve the organizational culture and structure. We are impressed and grateful for her leadership in the city and regionally during times of crisis like Operation Metro Surge and COVID. So thank you. At this point, then, I will move to approve the resolution amending the city manager's employment agreement with the city reflecting a salary adjustment.

I'll second.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have approved the employment agreement. Thank you. OUR NEXT ITEM OF BUSINESS IS THE CITY MANAGER'S REPORT. CITY MANAGER RODRIGUEZ.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY SPEAKERS AT THE OPEN FORUM LAST MEETING, SO I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO REPORT ON THAT. I DO APPRECIATE YOUR THANK YOU'S FOR THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT AND THEIR STAFF BECAUSE IT REALLY WAS A LOT TO CATCH UP ON THE ACCOUNTING WORK AND TO DELIVER THAT AUDIT IN A TIMELY FASHION AND IT WAS SUCH AN EASIER PROCESS THIS YEAR. I add my thank yous to the staff. I also want to thank council for their support and also for the clear guidance that they've given at my evaluation this year, but also over the years. I feel really lucky to work for Richfield and I'm proud of the work that we've done together. So thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for the city manager? Then we'll move on to the council discussion, either hats off for hometown hits or council liaison reports. Start off with council member Coleman Woods.

Thank you, Mayor. I want to send a sincere shout-out to our city manager. I know that this isn't the last meeting we'll be at, but I am grateful for her guidance and her onboarding and all of the random questions that I have. And I also want to send a shout-out to Ava, who actually won a gold medal yesterday at the Special Olympics. Congratulations, Ava. We are so proud of you. Way to represent Richfield. And that's all I got. Sorry, I probably stole your thunder, Mayor.

No, well, we can cheer next time because I haven't heard the results for today yet. So that was the results yesterday. She has more events coming.

Was that just the parallel bars?

I think she won the golden all-around yesterday. All-around? Oh, okay. But I don't know what's going on today's individual events.

Okay.

So I think we can cheer multiple times for Ava. Okay, good. Yeah, for sure. All right, Councilmember Christensen.

Yes, I know it's just a little bit early, but yet it's coming up very fast. A week from Saturday is the 4th of July here in Richfield, and it's going to be over on 12th Avenue from 75th to 66th Street this year. And a one-day event when they're going to start out the day with pancake breakfast at the local VFW, a wreath-laying ceremony at 10 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial. And then the parade at 4 p.m. with the fireworks in the evening. And then music and food trucks and everything else in Veterans Park. So that's it.

Thank you. Council Member Hayford-O'Leary.

Like Council Member Christensen, I just wanted to say I'm excited for the 4th of July. And thanks to the 4th of July committee as well as the police officers and staff who helped from the city end in coordinating that. It's exciting to have that. And it is the 250th 4th of July. So that's pretty cool.

Thank you. Council Member Burke?

Nothing this week, thank you.

Thank you. Well, you guys have talked about a lot of the exciting things, but I do want to thank everybody that participated and all the volunteers and the staff and everybody that did the Juneteenth event. We did it jointly between the cities of Richfield and Edina, and it was a fabulous event. And I know there were a lot of people there, including the Arts Commission, So it was good to see everybody there. And then there was an additional event at Crossroads Panorama for Juneteenth. And so I want to thank them also for helping the community to celebrate. I also want to say a thank you to everybody who attended the summer kickoff to summer and all of the commission members and the community volunteers that came up to help for that and the staff volunteers who were doing everything from giving out popsicles to giving tours of the fire department. and just everybody and the staff that organized the event and put it on. It was great to see all the community there and to see everybody having fun. And, you know, whenever you have llamas, it makes people happy, so this is a good thing. And then today, one of our previous Human Rights Awards winners was in action again, so Joe Carr had his lemonade stand, so if you want to look for that, if you're interested in donating, he's been I think donated over the years, they've raised over $88,000 for Gillette's Children's Hospital, so they're hoping to increase that total this year as well. And I want to thank them as well. And then I'm going to put the city clerk on the spot a little bit, because I believe that you're going to be here starting on Friday to welcome voters, so.

Yes, that is correct. We will be available from 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. beginning June 26th to accept any mail-out ballots that residents have. We can also assist if anyone does not have a computer. We can help you online to submit an application to receive an absentee ballot. And if you have any questions, we're also available for any questions that any residents or the community has. Thank you.

Thank you, and hats off to the city clerk and the whole department for all the work they're doing on elections. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, with that, is there any further business? Then I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting.

So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded multiple times to adjourn the meeting. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we stand adjourned. Thank you.