The Duluth City Council held an agenda session on Thursday, February 19, 2026, to discuss and prepare for the regular meeting scheduled for Monday, February 23, 2026. Key topics included a resolution to authorize acceptance of gifts under $10,000, competing resolutions regarding financial assistance for families affected by Operation Metro Surge (with and without an eviction moratorium), the second reading of an ordinance regulating city resources and immigration enforcement, and multiple public works and recreation infrastructure contracts. No final votes were taken; several items were referred back to administration or deferred to the Monday committee of the whole.
First thing is there, Councillor Randorf, item number two. Thank you so much. The first item is Resolution 61. It's a tabled resolution, a resolution authorizing the city administrator to accept gifts on behalf of the city in the amount of ten thousand dollars or less. Um if I may, go ahead. We were going to talk a little bit about this tonight. I had um gathered a little bit more information as finance chair on this. I see uh counselor Clana is not here. Do we know is he coming? Is he on his way? I think he was going to join remotely, but I don't see him up there. Okay. Um a lot of the questions were the ones that he sent in, so I'll go ahead and and if I may answer a couple of those right now for him. Yeah, we go ahead and okay. Um one of the questions was is how many of these gifts do we get um in a year? And and the answer to that is is pretty insignificant. When we look at 2025, we're talking about 100. When we look at 2024, it's 215. And so that threshold of $10,000 or less, just being able to get a gift uh in from whomever wants to send us a gift, whether it's for the libraries, whether it's for parks, people will send us a gift, and uh uh typically it'll either go to that department that's been specified or go into the general fund, and that'll be spent with our general fund money. Um his uh other question was um ha have there been any problems with this? No, we in fact this is uh there's been two other resolutions uh prior prior to this with the same language in it. So this has been something pretty common that we voted on in the past. And um what kind of safeguards are being proposed to protect the city? You know, it's really our standard auditing system. We deal with a lot of money coming in and out, and it is our standard um auditing system and our bookkeeping practices. So um those are the answers to those questions. Thank you. All right, thank you. Um the clerk has come in. Uh is that for counselor Timonic? Yes, I have a question. May I go ahead? Yes. Um, one is first uh comment when I make a donation to the library, it doesn't come in through this way. That goes direct, even though that might go send to the general fund. The donation is accepted by the library. And second, my question is you have a sister's hands arrangement, and there are guests usually get not monetary from mayor to mayor. I don't know if that's included in this gifts are usually a plaque or a platter. Um I don't know what their monetary value would be, but I just wondered how that was covered. Um I see counselor Jamonic from anywhere here, counselor Tomonik. No, those are not uh covered, those would be in kind, and those had been covered previously under agreements that were done directly with sister cities. So when those agreements were drawn up, there would be a uh attachment, showed any gifts that had been accepted, and those were accepted by sister cities, so those are not covered here going forward because we're likely not going to have these agreements with sister cities. We will address those separately. Thank you. Um next is Counselor Desitel, or did you have more, Counselor Timonic? I did not. I was just saying thank you. All right, Counselor Desital. Uh thank you, President Nephew. Uh the question is how do we then as councils see these gifts on the budget when it comes up?