Council - Regular Meeting

All right, are we set to go? Good evening. I'm calling to order this meeting of the Richfield City Council. It is July 14th, 2026 at 7 p.m. If you're able, please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance.

Thank you. And I wanted to note that Councilmember Burke is excused for this evening for attendance purposes. At this point, we're going to have a moment of silence to honor the service of Lance Corporal Armando Ortiz Canseco and his family is here with us this evening. Thank you for joining us. We honor the life and service of Lance Corporal Armando Ortiz Canseco, Richfield resident who was lost at sea off the coast of California. Our thoughts are with his family, all of you, who are still searching for answers. Lance Corporal Ortiz Canseco served honorably in the Marine Corps and received both a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. Please join us in a moment of silence to honor his life. Thank you. Next we'll be moving on to approval of the agenda and I would like to pull item eight E. I move approval of the agenda as described.

Thank you all.

Second. Thank you for joining us. So the motion before us is to approve the agenda with the change of item eight E is pulled off of the consented calendar. and moved into item nine for consideration of items pulled from the consent calendar. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? We've approved that part of the agenda. Next, we'll have the approval of the minutes.

I move to approve the minutes, all three sets. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the minutes of the June 23rd City Council work session, the June 23rd City Council regular meeting, and the June 30th Special City Council meeting. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have approved all three sets of minutes. Next, we'll move on to the open forum. And please note, you did receive one open forum comment ahead of time as an email that was sent that had to do with golf carts, and it was emailed out to everyone, and you also have a tab on that. And then we also have one commenter that's filled out a card for this evening. The way that we do the open forum is participants can share their comments in person by voicemail or email, and they also... Request to participate virtually for information on submitting comments referred to the council agenda and minutes page on Richfield Mn. Gov slash City Council you'll have three minutes to Give your comments. Please give your name your city of residence then when we have 30 seconds remaining We'll let you know and when your time is up. We'll let you know with the red card so first we have Birgit Johnson, so if you would like to come forward.

Birgit Johnson, Richfield. After reflecting, Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an apology over public remarks she made about Chief Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She found she was wrong. This is refreshing and we need more of these days. I am often wrong myself. We all are. What is important is that we learn from our experiences and mistakes. We are a city that is landlocked and we cannot expand and adding further amenities into our parks, green spaces is taking green space from future generations. Here's an example from which we can learn. We have two outdoor performance stages, the one at Ridgefield Lake, built on brown space that the Met Council gave almost a half a million dollars to the city of Ridgefield to. And the one at Vets Park, for which wetland was drained, it was wetland degradation. The one at Ridgefield Lake had all their programs canceled this year. The Vets Park Bandshell has approximately 17 performances. The performance stages are used for about two months out of the year. Just the added shade structures by the Vets Park Bandshell cost taxpayers over $100,000. This is called mission creep in my opinion. Please don't add any more amenities structures to the Bandshell at Vets Park. When adding any amenities, please refrain from building on green space. Use brown space instead. Our appetite for things is bigger than our need. Maybe we should reflect on what a certain person currently in office thinks what he needs. Nature doesn't need human amenities. In fact, these amenities take away from nature. Amenities also need to be maintained, and that takes more money. We need to adequately maintain what we have, place an emphasis on maintenance of what we currently have. Other communities use our ice arena for example. There are many possibilities for amenities in the metro area without stuffing our parks with more amenities. In future, parkland that is left without amenities will be what is needed with just nature. Nature is the only reality. Sustainability comes with less. Finally, here's the meaning of sustainability. The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. The sustainability of economic growth schemes to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project. Avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain and ecological balance. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? Anyone else who wishes to speak? Then we'll move on from the open forum. Next, we will go to a proclamation celebrating the passage of the Americans with Disability Act. And I would like to invite Human Rights Commissioner Tim Garvey to join me at the podium. Thank you. Thank you. This is a proclamation of the City of Richfield. Whereas the Americans with Disability Act, ADA, was passed on July 26, 1990, to ensure the civil rights of citizens with disabilities, and whereas the city of Richfield affirms the principles of equality and inclusion for persons with disabilities as embodied in the ADA, the laws of the state of Minnesota, and ordinance of the city of Richfield, and whereas numerous organizations in the city of Richfield work with constituents and communities to bring forth the promise of hope and freedom that is envisaged by the passage of the ADA. And whereas the city of Richfield is committed to providing accessible services to residents with disabilities through such programs as the Adaptive Recreation and Learning Exchange Cooperative, which offers opportunities for people with disabilities to actively participate in recreation, leisure, and community education opportunities specifically designed to meet the needs of the people with disabilities. whereas people with disabilities make up approximately 8.4% of the population of the City of Richfield, and whereas July 26, 2026 celebrates the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and whereas the City of Richfield strives to promote an environment of equity and inclusion, and whereas the Richfield Human Rights Commission supported this proclamation at its June 2, 2026 meeting and recommended to the Richfield City Council to do the same, Now, therefore, I, Mary Supple, Mayor of Richfield, on behalf of the Richfield City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of July 2026 as Americans with Disability Act Awareness Month in the City of Richfield and call on the people of Richfield to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies and continue to honor the contributions of persons with disabilities throughout the year. Proclaim this 14th day of July 2026. Thank you, Commissioner Garvey. Would you like to say anything?

Very briefly.

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council. Just on behalf of the Richfield Human Rights Commission, I wanted to say that it seems almost strange about how long it's been since the ADA was passed. It seems that this is the kind of environment in which it might not have been. So I am very appreciative to the City Council, to the Mayor, and to the Richfield Human Rights Commission that it has taken notice of it today. Thank you.

Next we'll move on to the consent calendar items a through D city manager Rodriguez

Yes, 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 disbursements and claims. Item B, consider approval of the first amendment to the cannabis substance use prevention agreement with Bloomington Public Health. Item C, consider approval of the second reading and summary publication of an ordinance amending subsection 840.11 of the Richfield City Code pertaining to alcohol in the city parks. Item D, consider a resolution of support for a project submittal for the 2026 Highway Safety Improvement Program funding solicitation. And I submit these items for your consideration as part of tonight's consent calendar.

Is there a motion to approve items A through D on the consent calendar?

I move to approve the items 8A through D on the consent calendar. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we've approved items A through D on the consent calendar. Next, we'll move on to item 8E, and it's for consideration of approval of a temporary on-sale intoxicating liquor license, and we had a typographical error This is a festival that happens every year, but it rotates through various parishes, and we accidentally put the address of the previous parish from last year, so we wanted to make sure we corrected this. The applicant did everything correctly. We did the background check on the right group of people, and everything is set to go. It's just that we simply typed the wrong part here. So I'm gonna read through this. On June 30th, 2026, the city received an application for the temporary on-sale intoxicating liquor license for Church of the Assumption, which is located at 305 East 77th Street, for their Tri-Fest Harvest 2026 event taking place September 26th and 27th of 2026. They will be serving intoxicating liquor, wine, and 3.2% malt liquor from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, September 26th. and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 27, 2026. And there will also be food vendors. There is an extensive plan in place to monitor legal drinking and deal with any issues. The Director of Public Safety has reviewed all required information and documents and has found no basis for denial. City Manager Rodriguez, is there anything else we need to add?

None other than we regret not catching there earlier. Thank you for your careful review All right.

Thank you. So I would move to approve issuance of a temporary on sale Intoxicating liquor license for Church of the Assumption located at 305 East 77th Street for their tri-fest harvest 2026 taking place on September 26th and 27th 2026 is there a second second? Okay, it's been moved to second it. Is there any discussion? I And I do want to emphasize they did the background check on the right group, and the applicant made no mistakes in this. So anything else? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? And we have approved issuance of the license. Thank you. Next, I'll turn it over to Councilmember Coleman-Woods for Item 13A.

Thank you, Mayor. The following is a... IS A CONSIDERATION FOR THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH GMP CONSULTANTS. FOLLOWING INTERVIEWS WITH FIVE EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRMS ON JUNE 30, 2026, THE CITY COUNCIL REACHED A CONSENSUS AND DIRECTED STAFF TO WORK WITH GMP CONSULTANTS ON A CONTRACT TO ASSIST WITH THE RECRUITMENT OF THE NEXT CITY MANAGER. THE ATTACHED PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT OUTLINES SCOPE OF SERVICES AND COMPENSATION. DO STAFF HAVE ANY I'm sorry. So we're working on a motion to approve the professional services agreement with GMP consultants to conduct this executive recruitment for the city's next city manager and authorize the mayor and city manager to execute the agreement. Are there any staff questions or discussion?

We're available for questions. All right. Is there a second to the motion?

I will second the motion.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I just want to thank the staff. I know that they did a lot of work to put out the RFP and set up all the interviews and it was very much appreciated. All right. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed. And we have approved the professional services agreement. Next we'll move on to the city manager's report. Nothing to report tonight. All right, and so that takes us to the council discussion. Council Member Hayford-Leary.

I was going to touch on it, so I'll just say very briefly thank you to the 4th of July Committee for their excellent work.

All right, thank you. Council Member Christensen. Thank you.

Yes, I just want to mention that this Saturday, July 18th, at the pool, the Richfield Main Pool down here in Portland and 66th Street, that the annual Pool-a-Palooza is happening. And if you don't know what that is, it's a cardboard boat races from noon to 4 p.m. Participants will race handmade boats constructed entirely from cardboard and duct tape in this fan-favorite summer tradition. Pre-registration is required. The date for pre-registration is tomorrow, June 15th. Excuse me, July 15th. Space is limited, but you are free to attend.

All right. Thank you. Council Member Coleman-Woods.

Nothing today.

All right And I would echo the thank you to the fourth of July committee and all the staff that helped with that and all the volunteers from the community And so I have a couple of things I want to draw to your attention to on our city website If you go to the front page the website and you look at the news section there's the link to go to the parks master plan and we would like information and input from you on how we should move forward with our parks for the next few years and Also, if you go to the website and hit type in photography into the search bar, it'll pull up all of the photography contest winners, and there's some fabulous pictures that came up from the Arts Commissions contest. Another thing that you could find, if you go under the commissions section, there's a sustainability guide that a lot of work was put into, and I want to make sure people are knowing that it's there and it answers a multitude of questions on that, And finally, a shameless plug for the fact that in August and September, we're going to open up recruitment for youth commissioners. So if you know anybody between the ages of 15 and 18 that would like to be on a commission, please encourage them to attend. So thank you all. And with that, I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting.

I would move to adjourn the meeting.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All opposed?