On November 4, 2024, the Rochester City Council held a regular session addressing consent agenda items, two public hearings, a major transit operational analysis, and ordinance first readings. The meeting included open comment period and ended after discussion of other business.
Or maybe that was that. It's green, so I don't know. Please rise as you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance. One nation understands Hello, welcome everyone. So good to see a full crowd tonight. This is our city council meeting for November 4th, 2024. We begin every meeting with an open comment period. This is a chance for anyone who would like to speak on issues. My computer just turned off. On issues that we will not be taking public testimony on later in a public hearing. And you have up to two minutes to speak for a total of up to 20 minutes. I will be keeping track of time as you move through your presentation with a little stop clock here and a stop uh timer on the wall. Just know that if I cut you off, it's not because I don't want to hear what you have to say, but it's because we want to make sure that others have a chance to speak as well. I will use the list that the city clerk has given me, although I only have a few names, so if there are others who didn't have a chance to sign up, I will be sure to ask after those uh have spoken. If you have any materials to share with the council, we ask that you hand those to the city clerk who is over here. She will make sure that we get that information. And uh similarly, if you would like us to follow up with you on any comments or questions you have, we don't respond in real time, but you can make sure that the clerk has your contact information and staff or council will follow up with you. We encourage you to limit your comments to topics that council actually has ability to influence policy over, but we certainly uh welcome your comments and feedback to staff and ask that you deliver those respectfully and to me as the presiding officer over the meeting. I will go ahead and start based on the list I have here, and we ask that you step up to the microphone, introduce yourself, and then you have two minutes. So Mike Brought is first. Thank you, Council President Carlson. The mic needs to be turned on. All right. How that thank you, Council President Carlson. Uh thank you, Mayor Norton and City Administration and the leaders of the six wars. All right. Hey, I came here to speak basically because uh I just graduated with my industrial engineering degree with honors, and I have a few other industrial engineering degrees, and I've been in the area for a few months and have had limited success on employment opportunities. Um I've applied to multiple organizations within Rochester and Olmstead County. Uh it seems like there is an appetite for some industrial engineers with certain uh qualifications. Um I'm unemployed and moving motel to motel in your in your county as an industrial engineer with uh tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Um I uh I'm trying I'm struggling to understand why there's such a lack of positions for technical professionals in the industrial engineering arena, which by the way, industrial engineers are found all over industry at all all levels above and below, and you should know that. I challenge you to look at your executive makeup in your area to include your county and city officials and other businesses that are well known in the area and assess the um the placement of industrial engineers and the areas um desire to achieve more efficient efficiency in terms of engineering and technical professionals in the area, such as myself. I've had very limited success in securing employment for my profession, and I would it would seem like someone in this arena would be welcome in in this area. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Adam Busby. Hi, my name is Adam Busby, ATU 105. I'm speaking for our drivers. Many are here to here today. And though I've been called special interest, these are your constituents. They live in your wards and they do city work. Two stories of what we've had to endure just this year working for trans dev. One of our drivers has some medical issues that prevented him from working. Transdev refused to give the information to MetLife so he could get his short-term disability when he was off for quite some time. Um with no pay till he had to walk away from the job. Uh in uh when uh first transit refused to install a part on the suspension of the bus because it was an expensive part. It was $900. But because they didn't want to spend that much, I will now live injured with the rest of my for the rest of my life. And then to add to that, this year Transdev started repay refusing to pay for three of my meds that I've been on some of them since 2017.