Duluth City Council Meeting - January 13, 2025: Legislative Update, Officer Elections, and Consent Agenda
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Duluth City Council Meeting - January 13, 2025
The Duluth City Council met on Monday, January 13, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting began with a Committee of the Whole session featuring a legislative update from lobbyist Eric Simonson (Flarity & Hood), followed by the regular council meeting which included the election of officers for 2025, approval of minutes, public comments, and a consent agenda of 20 resolutions adopted unanimously. Additionally, the council considered a separate resolution for a lease with the University of Minnesota and a second reading of an ordinance for airport grants.
Committee of the Whole – Legislative Update
- Eric Simonson, the city's lobbyist, provided an overview of the upcoming 2025 Minnesota legislative session, describing it as "challenging" due to unprecedented political dynamics: a tie in the House of Representatives (67-67 after election, later 67-66 after a resignation), a narrow DFL majority in the Senate (34-33, with a special election on January 28 pending), and a projected $616 million positive balance for FY 26-27 but a looming $5.1 billion shortfall in FY 28-29. He noted that a capital investment (bonding) bill could be up to $790 million.
- Simonson confirmed that he has met with the entire Duluth delegation and is drafting bills for the city's capital investment priorities (aerial lift bridge, water treatment plant, Lot D redevelopment). He also discussed ongoing work on tax policy for conversion of underutilized buildings and automatic inflators for Local Government Aid (LGA).
- Councilors asked about LGA prospects, communication frequency, and traction on top priorities. Simonson offered to return for updates and welcomed email inquiries.
Election of Officers
- Council President: The council unanimously elected Councilor Terese Tomanek as President for 2025, succeeding Councilor Roz Randorf, who passed the gavel after a year of service. President Tomanek gave remarks thanking past presidents and the council.
- Vice President: Councilor Lynn Nephew was unanimously elected Vice President for 2025.
Reports from Administration
- City Administrator Montgomery reported that a recent outside investigation cost just over $3,000 (within the $10,000 cap). He also announced that tentative agreements have been reached with AFSCME and the confidential unit, to be presented to council on January 27. Fire negotiations will begin later in January. The new city administrator, Matt Staling, is proposed for confirmation on January 27, with a start date of January 28.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Eric Lindell (3820 London Rd) spoke against bullying, referencing the recent investigative reports that he said vindicated his friends who had been subject to external and internal investigations. He criticized statements by Councilor Durrwachter and the chair of the Disabilities Commission, urging community leaders to stand against bullying.
- Valerie Yacel (15 E Village View Dr, Harbor Highlands) urged the council to improve the process for appointing commissioners, calling for more transparency, public notice, and uniform procedures to allow broader community participation.
- Lauren Martell (623 E 7th) began to express concerns about the Incline Village project—citing prior experience with the "Red Plan," questions about developer straightforwardness, traffic projections, and the phrase "adjust to the marketplace"—but stopped early and did not complete his testimony. The council noted and paused briefly but continued.
Consent Agenda (Items 2–20)
All 19 consent agenda resolutions were adopted unanimously (9-0). Key items included:
- Resolution authorizing issuance of a $8,116,359 General Obligation Water Utility Revenue Note (Series 2025A) (Item 2)
- Purchase of network switch replacements from Paragon Development Systems for $258,353.80 (Item 3)
- Approval of temporary on-sale liquor licenses to various licensees (Item 4)
- Transfer of $112,000 in CDBG funds from SOAR Career Solutions to True North Goodwill (Item 5)
- Acceptance of $5,000 from MN Dept. of Labor & Industry for a registered apprenticeship strategic plan (Item 6)
- Renewal of agreement with Duluth HRA for Tenant Landlord Connection Program (accepting $17,500; entering agreement with One Roof Community Housing for $46,250) (Item 7)
- Confirmation of 2025 council committee assignments (Item 8)
- Purchase of a T880 Vactor truck from MacQueen Equipment for $638,260 (Item 9)
- Amendment to contract with Northland Consulting Engineers for Chester Park Drive Alley Reconstruction (+$90,600; new total $156,340) (Item 10)
- Acceptance of $1,246,603 DOJ grant (COSSUP) with St. Louis County for social worker services (Item 11)
- Acceptance of $26,486 DOJ grant with St. Louis County (Item 12)
- Fiscal agent role for Lake Superior Violent Offender Task Force under Minnesota Anti-Heroin Task Force Program (Item 13)
- Acceptance of $999,268 DOJ grant (SAKI Project) with Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (Item 14)
- Amendment to Lake Superior Traffic Enforcement Team grant (Toward Zero Deaths) (Item 15)
- Agreement with St. Louis County for Operation Stonegarden grant ($71,476) (Item 16)
- Purchase of eight 2025 Ford Police Interceptors from Tenvoorde Ford for $356,783.52 (Item 17)
- Amendment to Alliance agreement for Spirit Mountain Upper Chalet (Phase 2) design services (+$52,000; new total $2,299,710) (Item 18)
- Amendments to lease and operating agreements with Arrowhead Youth Soccer Association for Wheeler Fieldhouse office space and soccer fields (Items 19 & 20)
Discussion Items
- Resolution 25-0021R (Lease with University of Minnesota): Authorized a five-year lease agreement with the Regents of the University of Minnesota for use of space on Park Point for its Aquatic Center/Boatshed and water-based recreational programming. Councilor Mayou abstained due to his employment with the University. The resolution passed 8-0-1.
- Ordinance 24-072-O (Second Reading): Authorized the Duluth Airport Authority to accept federal and state grants for improvements to Duluth International and Sky Harbor airports, and to execute grant documents on behalf of the city for 2025. Passed unanimously (9-0).
Key Outcomes
- Council President Terese Tomanek and Vice President Lynn Nephew were elected for 2025.
- All 20 consent agenda items were adopted unanimously.
- The University of Minnesota lease resolution was adopted (8-0-1, Mayou abstaining).
- The airport grants ordinance was adopted on second reading (9-0).
- The legislative update was received; ongoing advocacy for city priorities (aerial lift bridge, water treatment, Lot D, etc.) will continue through the session.
- City administrator transition to Matt Staling is scheduled for January 28, pending council confirmation on January 27.
Meeting Transcript
Yeah, we're gonna work. Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, sorry, number one. Exactly how you see it. I would feel like it's the other way, but you're sitting here and you're actually seeing it as I know, right? It's kind of backwards. Well, good evening, counselors. Good evening, everyone. We'll begin. We have a committee of the whole, and tonight we're going to welcome uh our lobbyist Eric Simonson. He's with the firm of Flarity and Hood to talk about and give us a legislative update. We'd like to welcome you, uh Eric, up to the uh lectern. Well, thank you, Chair Randorf and counselors. Uh it's great to be here even on this cold evening here in Duluth. But appreciate the time to take a few minutes and just talk about uh legislative session upcoming and how it's going to interact with some of the legislative priorities that the City of Duluth has laid out. Uh just by way of introduction, again, my name is Eric Simonson. I work with the law firm of Flarity and Hood. I've been there for almost uh this will be my fifth session now working for them as a lobbyist, and we are excited to have the City of Duluth on board as a client and excited to help the city move some of their projects forward uh in what can probably be best described as what will be a challenging legislative session for sure. Uh but I thought I'd take a few minutes and just talk a little bit about where the legislature is at as a whole, as well as in terms of where they're at in terms of their organizing, and then kind of lead into a little bit about where we're at with some of your uh initial initiatives on some of your projects. Um I think you know, everybody's probably paying attention to a lot of the news and the media around what's happening at the legislature, and it's it's very interesting, and there's a lot of really unprecedented things happening. But I think if we could just go back and kind of review some of the facts, and I'll just lay some of this out for you over the course of a few minutes because I think it's important as we think about the end game in this legislative session and some of the things that you want to see get done. Um, of course, we had uh uh election in November, um, no Senate election necessarily except for a special election in Minnetonka, and that was the results of a vacancy that was uh created in the Minnesota Senate. But the results of the November election in the Senate were 34 Democrats, 33 Republicans. So a very slim majority carrying forward in the Minnesota Senate. Um and then just recently uh you probably saw that Senator Kerry Dietzik, who is uh senator from Minneapolis uh passed away from cancer. Uh very unfortunate and very sad. Um but our special election for that seat will be held on January 28th, which means that starting the legislative session, we will essentially be in a tie in the Minnesota Senate. Um addition, uh, in terms of other Senate activity, uh Senator Nicole Mitchell, who is uh the senator from Woodbury, um, has a uh felony trial in Becker County starting on January 27th. Uh the results of that could impact the majority in the Senate going forward throughout the session, remains to be seen. Um, but there is just more to watch there, and I think the point is that they're very close. Um, but assumably after January 28th election is certified, uh, the DFL will control the Minnesota Senate by one seat. Um the entire House of Representatives was up for election in November, and the results of the election after election day uh gave us a 6767 tie in the House of Representatives. Has not happened since 1979. Uh very rare occurrence, obviously. Um, and with some of the challenges with the election, uh, we had a court challenge in Roseville while we had a Democrat win that seat. Um it turned out that that Democrat was not a resident of the district and decided to quote unquote resign his ability to be seated in the House of Representatives. That places the House of Representatives with 67 Republicans and 66 Democrats. Uh clearly they have the majority of those sitting, um, but there are questions around that when it comes to power sharing agreements and who will control the House of Representatives starting tomorrow at noon. In addition, there's been a court challenge in the Scott County race. Uh again, a Democrat won there by a total of 14 votes. Uh we know that 20 of the right-in ballots were disposed of without being counted. Uh that has worked itself almost entirely through the court process. Uh, we're still awaiting a judge ruling on whether or not that individual should be seated or not, or if there should be a special election. Um remains to be seen. We as of late this afternoon, anyway. We had no uh judge ruling in that particular case. So this really brings into question about who's gonna control the Minnesota House of Representatives tomorrow going forward, at least for the next few weeks. Tomorrow typically is the first day of session, it's typically very ceremonial. A lot of families get involved.
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