Duluth City Council Agenda Session - January 26, 2026
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Duluth City Council Agenda Session - January 26, 2026
The Duluth City Council held an agenda session on Monday, January 26, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers, with Councilor President Nephew participating via audio. The meeting began approximately two minutes late due to technical setup. The council reviewed a lengthy consent agenda, discussing numerous items in detail but taking no formal votes. Several items were pulled for later consideration, and staff were directed to provide additional information on multiple topics.
Discussion Items
- Item 2 (26-0061R) – Acceptance of gifts $10,000 or less: Councilor Randorf asked whether the resolution included grants. Staff clarified it covers only small gifts, not grants, and that a report on accepted gifts could be provided upon request.
- Items 7-9 – Civil service classifications: Councilor Durwachter asked about the new Digital Forensic Analyst position. Chief Senewa explained it is a new civilian role to extract digital evidence, funded by reducing sworn strength and reallocating positions. Councilor Klanaugh confirmed warrants or consent are typically required for device searches. Councilor Durwachter also asked for an application or resume for the Natural Resources Commission appointee; staff committed to provide that information before the Monday meeting.
- Item 10 (26-0028R) – Shoreland permit fee reduction: Director VanTassel stated fees were reevaluated to align with actual review costs, reducing the fee from $500 to $100. Councilor Durwachter questioned the rationale; Director VanTassel said the change covers administrative costs only.
- Items 11-12 (26-0034R, 26-0035R) – Parking ramp lease amendments: Councilor Forsman asked for the number of leased spaces on the ground level. Staff said the first level has 65 spaces; the ground level is exclusive use but the exact number is undetermined. Councilor Tomanek asked why the lease moved from the second level; staff agreed to research.
- Item 20 (26-0080R) – Resolution of intent to sell property in Central Hillside: Pulled by administration for a future meeting.
- Item 24 (26-0026R) – Giant Voices contract for brochures, gas survey, and membership: Councilor DeSotelle asked what the gas survey entails and whether electronic billing would reduce costs. Staff will have Director Benning provide details.
- Item 25 (26-0032R) – No parking zone on 24th Avenue West: Councilor Randorf asked if similar restrictions are planned for 27th Avenue due to snow and width compliance with MnDOT. Staff will check before Monday.
- Item 30 (26-0056R) – DECC hot water pipe change order with Stack Bros: Councilor Durwachter questioned why the city must pay $35,336 for delays allegedly caused by Evergreen (city’s steam plant manager). Staff will review the change order and respond before Monday.
- Item 23 (26-0010R) – DTA bus stop improvement design: Councilor Klanaugh asked if the redesigns consider not making stops unfriendly to homeless individuals. Staff did not have that design detail and will follow up.
- Item 26 (26-0033R) – Gas meter encoder receiver transmitters (ERTs): Councilor DeSotelle asked how many transmitters the $370,000 purchase covers and their lifespan. Staff will connect her with Director Benning.
- Item 27 (26-0039R) – Lead service line replacement engineering increase: Councilor DeSotelle questioned the 10% increase in costs. Staff will provide more information.
- Item 33 (26-0058R) – Purchase of eight police interceptor hybrids: Councilor Durwachter asked about vehicle lifespan. Chief Senewa explained the fleet cycle: patrol cars are replaced after a few years and cycled to less intensive roles.
- Item 36 (26-0047R) – ATV route study grant acceptance: Councilor Durwachter asked if this duplicates a previous study. Councilor Forsman recalled the prior item was only an application, not a grant. Staff will confirm.
- Items 34 & 36 (Spirit Mountain trail amendments): Councilor Forsman questioned the funding source, noting the St. Louis River Corridor tax has been reauthorized for athletic venues. She requested a committee of the whole update on the athletic venues initiative. Vice President Kennedy acknowledged the request.
- Item 40 (26-0067R) – City Hall restroom remodel (Phase 1): Councilor Tomanek asked if this covers one restroom and whether ARPA funds are used. Staff clarified it is both fourth-floor restrooms, part of a multi-year CIP, and will check the funding source.
- Item 39 (26-0062R) – Airport grant acceptance: Councilor Klanaugh verified the funds are for general public facilities, not hangar improvements for the 148th Fighter Wing. Staff will confirm.
- Item 41 – Ordinance for Central Hillside property conveyance: Pulled by administration for a future agenda.
Key Outcomes
- Items pulled: Item 20 (resolution of intent to sell) and Item 41 (ordinance for Lake Avenue Lofts) were pulled by the administration for later council consideration.
- Information requests: Staff committed to provide answers before the Monday council meeting on: Natural Resources Commission appointment process; parking space count for ground-level lease; DECC change order justification; gas survey content and cost reduction plans; ERT quantity and lifespan; lead service line cost increase details; and whether ATV study duplicates previous work.
- **Councilor Forsman requested a future committee of the whole on the athletic venues initiative. Vice President Kennedy supported the idea.
- Transparency reminder: Vice President Kennedy reminded councilors to pull items only during open agenda sessions or Monday meetings, not via weekend emails.
- No formal votes were taken as this was an agenda session.
Meeting Transcript
Um in about 30 seconds. Well, there'll be a live stream of it. I think over my lesson. That's okay. We hope to have another surprise. Good evening. We're gonna be a few minutes late. We have some counselor uh co uh president nephew who'll be online and we need to get that working. Counselors, could you please um counselors thank you and community? Um I have a announcement. We'll be a couple minutes late. We have President Nephew who's getting online and we need to make sure she's able to communicate, as well as Counselor Foresman who's coming. So we're gonna give it just about two minutes. It's really cold out, so we'll do that. Okay, so we'll just win the representative mic. Yeah, we're good. Yeah. She her video is not in this her connection. Um let me see. What do I have to do to if it's her connection and she's just gonna be audio? Yeah, I don't know how to shared like I don't know how to share that before on the piece of the case. No, I think I was with building inspections. I'm gonna call the Monday uh the agenda session for our Monday, January twenty-sixth meeting to order. Um we will start with it looks like uh Council Randor under finance. Thank you, Vice President Kennedy. Item two, resolution sixty-one is a resolution authorizing the city administrator to accept gifts on behalf of the city in the amount of ten thousand dollars or less. Counselors, any questions on items two and three. Yes, you know, uh go ahead. Yeah, thank you, Vice President Kennedy. So on two, this is about the uh gifts. Um your question would go to staff. Yeah, does this it's to staff? Yes, yeah. Does this include grants being accepted? If they're under ten thousand dollars. Go ahead. President Kenner, Kennedy uh counselor. And rather than coming back to the council with like a $50, $100 gift, it's easier just to say if it's $10,000 or less, the city can accept those without coming to council. This is consistent with some of our purchasing guidelines where purchases for $10,000 or less don't require council or a more formal approval process so that we can streamline what the council is reviewing. This would not include grants. All grants would have to come to the council for approval. Thank you. On that uh follow-ups on that. Um what type of oversight would the council have for these gifts? I mean, given that they could be from all kinds of sources and potentially sources that there we might have questions about in terms of how these gifts are being used, what the intents are of the donors, so forth and so on. Vice President Kennedy, Council Klana. That's why the amount is set at 10,000. So these are really small amounts. We often see gifts to the library for a hundred dollars. Uh, when we had the um horse patrol, the mounted patrol of the community often wanted to do small gifts to the mounted patrol to support the motor patrol in some capacity.
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