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Record of Proceedings

Duluth City Council Appoints Deborah De Luca to District 2 Seat - August 11, 2025

City Council — Monday, August 11, 2025
BodyDuluth, Minnesota
SessionCity Council
DateMonday, August 11, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

Say that once more.

0:19

I'm excited, but I'm also not here.

0:42

So I don't know if they have to pull on the useful.

0:50

They will, yeah.

0:51

It sounds like this is where we are in the community.

1:17

That's what it knows about the important thing.

1:55

So it's so it's working.

1:57

It's many just wait till the sponsor.

2:28

So I'd always go in with something like this.

2:30

I'm curious to see if that's the practice.

4:02

Um my name is uh counselor Azreen Owl.

4:05

I serve at large, and I will be I am uh serving as the personnel committee chair.

4:10

Uh during this personnel committee meeting, we will be interviewing for the second district city council vacancy.

4:16

Uh we have three candidates that we will be inter uh interviewing who have advanced to the final round.

4:21

We have Craig Birch, Deborah De Luca, and Janet Nelson.

4:25

We will be interviewing them in alphabetical order as they are listed.

4:31

And we will begin with Craig Birch.

4:37

I go first.

4:46

Um we have kind of internally decided we were gonna go alphabetical.

4:54

Um so that's the only reason.

4:55

I apologize if there is a difference.

5:01

In the roll call, I should have checked in with all of you.

5:05

So as yes.

5:08

And just as a reminder of why we're here, the Duluth City Council.

5:12

The mission of the July City Council is to develop effective public policy rooted in citizen involvement that results in an excellent municipal services and creates a thriving community prepared for the challenges, prepared for the challenges of the future.

5:26

Thank you so much, Mr.

5:27

Birsch, for coming and interviewing with us.

5:30

You can call me Craig.

5:31

Thank you, Craig, for coming and interviewing with us.

5:33

So how this is gonna run is we I will set the timer for 20 minutes.

5:39

We'll do some rounds of questioning.

5:41

I do have uh my first questions.

5:43

I'll turn it over to the council.

5:45

Counselors ask one question, and then I will be keeping track of how much uh the time each counselor um the dialogue essentially between the counselor and yourself.

5:54

Each counselor will have a uh about um five minutes per candidate.

5:59

Um so I'll keep track of that time and I'll also keep track of your time too.

6:05

So a couple of uh couple of uh things that we're keeping track of.

6:09

My first question um just to start it off.

6:12

Um after the first set of uh questions rounds, there were some uh concerns still from constituents really trying to understand the difference between a district counselor and an at-large counselor.

6:26

What do you see as as the important difference or roles of a district counselor versus an at-large counselor?

6:34

I would view the district counselor as being maybe a little bit more close to the constituents, maybe the the one that's taking the neighborhood issue.

6:42

I think the at-large counselors are dealing with every citizen in the city, so I think they get more constituent concerns thrown at them.

6:53

I think it's maybe the difference between a United States Senator and a Congress person, uh, where there's a little bit more of a local focus for someone who's in the U.S.

7:02

Congress or representative versus someone who's a senator who has a whole state, maybe not so much in a state like Rhode Island, but certainly in a state like California, there's a big difference there.

7:11

So I I would view it in that parallel sense.

7:14

Okay, thank you, Greg.

7:16

Um counselors, I'll open it up for the first round of questions.

7:21

I'll wait for your buttons to come in.

7:29

Vice President nephew.

7:31

Uh thank you, uh Chair Owl.

7:33

Um my question is um we are, as we've talked about already, coming upon a challenging budget year ahead of you.

7:40

So you can give us like an idea of the hardest budget decision you've had to make on maybe a board you served on or a work commitment or something like that.

7:49

Talk through that because I'd be curious on how maybe some of those decisions might reflect on what's before us.

7:56

In my professional society, we're facing declining membership.

8:02

And what comes out of that is do you want to start charging more money for the members that you have, or are you trying to get more members in at a lower level and increase your membership that way?

8:13

So one thing that we did there was start a student rate where students started for free and then had graduated up to the full member rate over the first five years they were out of out of college, and that was a way to try to encourage greater membership rather than trying to raise rates on all of the members who were still there.

8:33

So I think the parallel there is do we holistically in the city, do we want to have a larger tax base or do we want to tax the people who are paying more already?

8:45

And so I think that's the closest parallel that I would have.

8:49

Thank you.

8:53

Pausing the timer.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Personnel Matters██████████████████████22%
Procedural████████████████████20%
Affordable Housing████████8%
Budget Equity Analysis███████7%
Public Safety███████7%
Climate Action Planning███████7%
Public Engagement███████7%
Landlord Tenant Relations███3%
Transportation Safety███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Duluth City Council Meeting - August 11, 2025

The Duluth City Council convened on Monday, August 11, 2025, at 6:00 PM for a personnel committee meeting to interview finalists for the vacant District 2 council seat, followed by a regular council meeting. After interviewing Craig Birch, Deborah De Luca, and Janet Nelson, the council unanimously appointed De Luca to serve the remainder of former Councilor Mayou's term. The council also approved the consent agenda, passed a daycare zoning ordinance on second reading, and left the Transportation Commission ordinance on the table.

Consent Calendar

  • The council approved the 18-item consent agenda by roll call vote. Notable items included a three-year, $546,000 agreement with Duluth-Superior Public Access Community Television; a DEDA development agreement with One Roof Community Housing and Brae View LLLP providing up to $3,132,143; a $350,000 DNR grant for the Hillside Sport Court Park Plan; utility easements from the U.S. Army; contract awards for the Keene Creek Biofiltration Basin ($425,393) and water meter transmitters ($55,000); and several contract amendments for engineering and fire facility planning.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Eleanor Dolan (District 4) expressed outrage at the council's District 2 selection process, saying that candidates Aaron Rose and Sam Weston, who supported socialized housing, rent stabilization, and free transit, were not advanced, and that no public comment was allowed. She also commemorated the anniversary of the encampment raid and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
  • A speaker identifying as a member of Indivisible Good Trouble urged the council to increase the library budget, noting it has remained flat since 2002 and is now worth far less in today's dollars.
  • Carly Bladel, a special education teacher and Central Hillside resident, spoke in strong support of maintaining library funding, describing how she uses the library for her students and as a nanny. She said cuts would mean fewer hours and programs.
  • David Finch (510 East 7th Street, District 3) reported that multiple construction projects have blocked his street from both sides, causing safety hazards, confusing detours, and accessibility problems for neighbors with disabilities. He asked for better coordination and study of disruptive impacts.
  • Andrea Heal, Safe Routes to School Coordinator for Duluth Public Schools and District 2 resident, expressed strong support for the proposed Transportation Commission. She cited safety concerns, noted that only Congdon Elementary has school zone signage, and stated that youth make up 17.1% of the city's population. She recommended the council form the commission and include schools in its work.

Discussion Items

  • The personnel committee interviewed three finalists for the District 2 vacancy: Craig Birch, Deborah De Luca, and Janet Nelson. Candidates answered questions about budget priorities, core city services, housing density, tenant right to repair, crisis response team funding, UDC reform, and the Transportation Commission. They all emphasized core services and public safety; De Luca highlighted her climate action plan work at the Port Authority; Birch proposed student-rate approaches to grow membership; Nelson cited her experience with labor unions and townhouse living.
  • The committee voted to suspend rules to extend the meeting to 6:30 PM to allow all candidate interviews. The vote was unanimous.
  • The council considered Ordinance 25-020-O, amending Chapter 50 regarding daycare facilities and definitions. Vice President Nephew and Councilor Swenson spoke in support, noting it would expand zoning options for child care providers. The ordinance passed 8-0.
  • Ordinance 25-014-O, establishing the Duluth Transportation Commission, remained on the table. Councilor Owell announced that amendments are being negotiated and a first read is anticipated on August 25, with a second read in early September.
  • Councilor Randorf offered a preview of the budget process: Mayor Reinert will present the 2026 budget and max levy recommendation on September 12, with a full-day budget discussion, and the council will vote on the final budget in December.

Key Outcomes

  • Deborah De Luca was appointed to the District 2 city council seat by a unanimous roll call vote (8-0), following approval of an amendment adding her name to Resolution 25-0649R.
  • The consent agenda was approved unanimously.
  • Ordinance 25-020-O (daycare facilities) was approved 8-0 on second reading.
  • Ordinance 25-014-O (Transportation Commission) was left on the table.
  • The council adjourned after a preview of upcoming business.

Meeting Transcript

Say that once more. I'm excited, but I'm also not here. So I don't know if they have to pull on the useful. They will, yeah. It sounds like this is where we are in the community. That's what it knows about the important thing. So it's so it's working. It's many just wait till the sponsor. So I'd always go in with something like this. I'm curious to see if that's the practice. Um my name is uh counselor Azreen Owl. I serve at large, and I will be I am uh serving as the personnel committee chair. Uh during this personnel committee meeting, we will be interviewing for the second district city council vacancy. Uh we have three candidates that we will be inter uh interviewing who have advanced to the final round. We have Craig Birch, Deborah De Luca, and Janet Nelson. We will be interviewing them in alphabetical order as they are listed. And we will begin with Craig Birch. I go first. Um we have kind of internally decided we were gonna go alphabetical. Um so that's the only reason. I apologize if there is a difference. In the roll call, I should have checked in with all of you. So as yes. And just as a reminder of why we're here, the Duluth City Council. The mission of the July City Council is to develop effective public policy rooted in citizen involvement that results in an excellent municipal services and creates a thriving community prepared for the challenges, prepared for the challenges of the future. Thank you so much, Mr. Birsch, for coming and interviewing with us. You can call me Craig. Thank you, Craig, for coming and interviewing with us. So how this is gonna run is we I will set the timer for 20 minutes. We'll do some rounds of questioning. I do have uh my first questions. I'll turn it over to the council. Counselors ask one question, and then I will be keeping track of how much uh the time each counselor um the dialogue essentially between the counselor and yourself. Each counselor will have a uh about um five minutes per candidate. Um so I'll keep track of that time and I'll also keep track of your time too. So a couple of uh couple of uh things that we're keeping track of. My first question um just to start it off. Um after the first set of uh questions rounds, there were some uh concerns still from constituents really trying to understand the difference between a district counselor and an at-large counselor. What do you see as as the important difference or roles of a district counselor versus an at-large counselor? I would view the district counselor as being maybe a little bit more close to the constituents, maybe the the one that's taking the neighborhood issue. I think the at-large counselors are dealing with every citizen in the city, so I think they get more constituent concerns thrown at them. I think it's maybe the difference between a United States Senator and a Congress person, uh, where there's a little bit more of a local focus for someone who's in the U.S. Congress or representative versus someone who's a senator who has a whole state, maybe not so much in a state like Rhode Island, but certainly in a state like California, there's a big difference there. So I I would view it in that parallel sense. Okay, thank you, Greg. Um counselors, I'll open it up for the first round of questions. I'll wait for your buttons to come in. Vice President nephew. Uh thank you, uh Chair Owl.

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