Duluth City Council Agenda Session and Committee of the Whole – June 25, 2026 (Agenda lists June 29, 2026)
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Duluth City Council Agenda Session and Committee of the Whole – June 25, 2026 (Agenda lists June 29, 2026)
Note on date discrepancy: The user-provided timestamp indicates the meeting occurred on June 25, 2026, at 11:15 UTC, while the printed agenda and transcript references point to Monday, June 29, 2026. This summary uses the user-provided date but notes the conflict.
The Duluth City Council met for an agenda session and a committee of the whole to review items for the upcoming regular meeting on June 29. The session included a personnel interview for a board appointment, discussion of a police chief contract amendment, review of dozens of consent agenda items, and a presentation on the Downtown Development Strategy.
Consent Calendar
- The council reviewed 31 consent agenda items covering finance, public works, public safety, and recreation/authorities. Key items included:
- Resolution 26‑0587R confirming a sanitary sewer extension assessment roll for Westwood Lane.
- Several easements and license agreements for the Chester Park‑UMD neighborhood (items 8‑19, 23, 24), all at no cost to the city.
- Agreements for Medical District lighting improvements ($58,330), Tischer Creek resilience project ($1.2M), Lakewood filter pilot study ($67,970 increase), and an ATV route study ($172,006.85).
- Grants: $50,000 from DEED for Service to Success employment training, $5,200 for hazardous materials training, and a US Coast Guard support agreement.
- Recreation items: license with Duluth Backcountry Horsemen through 2029, Park Point Recreation Area Plan, Mission Creek forestry project, and Lester‑Amity‑Hawk Ridge Natural Area management plan.
- No public comments were received on consent items.
Discussion Items
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Personnel Interview – DECC Authority Appointment: The council interviewed Matt Massman, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations at UMD, for a seat on the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC) authority. He discussed his background in public finance, operations, and legislative work. He identified parking and connectivity across I‑35 as key challenges. Per council policy, the vote was tabled to the next cycle.
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Police Chief Employment Contract (Item 3 – Resolution 26‑0593R): Administrator Cole Hain presented a first amendment to Chief Michael Ceynowa’s contract, increasing his salary by about $20,000 (10.4%) to address compression with deputy chiefs (currently at a 20% gap). The severance was reduced from ~8.5 months to 6 months. The contract was budgeted. Several councilors questioned timing and the $5.5M budget challenge. Councilor Clanaugh requested the item be pulled for a roll‑call vote at the regular meeting. The item was polled.
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Unified Development Chapter Amendments (Item 42 – Ordinance 26‑019‑O): Councilor Randorf asked about status; Chair Tomonic stated the amendments would be pulled for further vetting with the incoming sustainability coordinator and the energy commission. Councilor Clanaugh and Durwachter raised concerns about elimination of 500‑foot buffer zones between higher‑density and R1/R2 districts, which could allow 75‑foot buildings near single‑family homes. Director Moses explained the changes support housing and had been developed since September 2025 per council direction. Discussion deferred to future amendments.
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Downtown Development Strategy (Committee of the Whole): Directors Trisha Hobbs and Jen Moses presented the strategy, synthesized from several existing plans. Four goals: (1) build housing, (2) focus investment on priority areas (especially First Street and the 4th/6th Ave E intersection), (3) increase and connect open spaces (e.g., Central Hillside Park mini‑master plan, downtown‑waterfront connectivity), and (4) activate (placemaking, events, skywalk analysis). Councilor Desotelle noted the strategy lacks explicit reference to the 2018 Climate Vulnerability Assessment and the Climate Emergency Resolution; Director Moses agreed to consider adding climate language. The council discussed historic building reuse, riparian corridors, and the recently completed AUAR for downtown development.
Key Outcomes
- Item 3 (Police Chief Contract): Pulled for a roll‑call vote at the June 29 regular meeting.
- DECC Appointment (Matt Massman): Tabled to the next meeting cycle per policy.
- UDC Amendments (Item 42): Pulled from the June 29 agenda for further work; Chair Tomonic aims to reintroduce before year’s end.
- Other Consent Items: To be voted on as a block at the June 29 meeting unless individually pulled.
- The Downtown Development Strategy will be reported on annually; no formal action taken at this session.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. We're going to begin our personnel meeting and we will be interviewing Mr. Massman. And I assume that's you. Oh, excellent. I can just talk into it. That's easy. I can Right. So if you would give us your name and your precinct or your address if you prefer, and tell us what border commission you are applying for. Thank you, and good evening, Chair Nephew, Matt Mossman. I'm Tomonic. Ah, Tomonic, sorry. That's okay. Of course, I knew that. I live at 2120 London Road, the ND Apartments number 404. Great. Thank you. Can you give us a brief outline of your education and work experience, especially as it relates to the DEC? Mm-hmm. Sure, thank you for the question. So I have a master's degree in public administration, and I am currently the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations at the University of Minnesota Duluth. So I bring with me into the DEC role 35 plus years of experience in a wide variety of public facing organizations and roles, all of which I think can be characterized really with budget and public finance, work with the legislature as well as operations leadership, particularly of facilities heavy organizations like the university, the State Department of Administration, where I was commissioner of the agency and Governor Dayton's administration. I recently transitioned into higher education, and of course, the DEC itself is an important partner with the University of Minnesota Duluth. And so those are some of my the parts of my resume that I think would be really relevant and directly related to the role of being a member of the deck board. Thank you. We're going to just switch okay. Sure, thank you for the question. So I have been, I should say, we uh my husband and I have been in Duluth for 18 months, and I would say that in that 18 months, the deck itself has already been uh a very significant part of our uh moving into the community and becoming acquainted with the community. I think for the first eight months or so we were probably at the deck at least once a week and multiple venues at the complex, just in terms of uh the activity that goes on there from uh the symphony to the Anzoil Arena to events um at the um to the curling uh matches, actually, and the and the national curling um uh championships that were held there last year. So the deck is an important part of the community, that is very clear. Um, and it also just really aligns with my interest, uh longtime interest in public service and being part of helping um communities thrive and be strong, and clearly the deck is an important uh opportunity to help do that in Duluth. Thank you for that. Uh can you tell us what do you consider to be your personal strengths that you would bring to this board? So I think if you look across my resume, um my work in the legislative process, particularly across uh as well across agencies, um I have uh worked with all varieties of people across many uh divides and communities, political perspectives, so I think that ability to help bring partnership and pragmatic leadership uh really focus on solution-oriented um leadership both at the policy level and at the operations level is a characteristic a personal characteristic that I bring to the work that I do along with a strong um uh financial uh acumen and uh a brief but um a fresh perspective on the importance of the of the deck uh to the uh to the community. Thank you. Are there things that you feel like you need to bring yourself up to date on before you serve on the deck board? I think I'm still getting to know Duluth. I think that that is true, but I've we've spent a lot we spent a ton of time out in the communities and the neighborhood businesses, um, the restaurants and other venues surrounding the downtown area and the deck and uh appreciating those um relationships and the importance uh of the deck, not only to the Duluth community directly, but to the region uh more broadly. I have um done a lot of work with local governments, county governments, and regional bodies throughout the course of my uh career, so understanding that it's not just here in Duluth that the deck is important to, but to the entire region, and so I think I can help bring a creative spirit uh to that work. I want to leave time for the other counselors, but I do have a few other questions. Um you said you've spent a lot of time at the deck. On your first go-around, what do you see as the biggest challenge facing that deck? Um parking I think is uh a key challenge, and just the I think probably just the the um the the challenging connection of uh crossing the interstate and you know the separation between which is just something that is uh is a uh uh a reality of the Duluth geography, um, but trying to navigate how there is that connectivity across the interstate and the connectivity to downtown is I think something that really sticks in in uh my early experience and how that can be done better. Two quick questions. Do you feel you have any contrast conflict of interest in serving on the deck board? Uh I do not. I think I I assume you're answering asking the question because of the close relationship. I don't have any conflicts of interest personally. Okay. Um and professionally there certainly is again some important partnership professionally with the University of Minnesota Duluth, but it doesn't result in any personal uh conflict for myself or my finances.
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