Please rise as you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Welcome everybody to the May eighteenth, twenty twenty six Rochester City Council meeting.

Uh, we begin every city council meeting with our open comment period.

This is an opportunity for for anyone from the public to speak on items that we will that we will not be taking public testimony on during a public hearing later in the agenda.

Each person has up to two minutes to speak for a total of twenty minutes.

And I will be keeping track of time through two methods.

One is the stoplight here, the red, white or the green, yellow, and red, and the also the red digital clock on the wall there.

So know that I may need to cut you off.

Um I also request that each speaker be concise to allow for more people to speak during the designated time.

And participants are also encouraged to limit comments generally to topics that are within the scope and jurisdiction of the council's ability to affect policy.

Council members and staff do not respond to your comments during public comment, but will instead follow up on any specific requests separately.

I'm a lifelong resident of Rochester, Minnesota.

I am here tonight on behalf of the Friends of Silver Lake, a group representing thousands of Rochester residents like myself who do not want to see major changes to Rochester Silver Lake Park that the dam removal is about to bring.

As someone who has lived in Rochester my entire life, I've never heard concerns about this dam being unsafe until the removal effort began.

For many residents, that raises a legitimate question about whether this project is truly necessary.

Part of the dam removal effort has been in the works for the past decade.

City council approval to spend more than three million dollars of Rochester public utilities electric ratepayer money for dam removal, despite RPU estimated it would cost similar amounts to maintain the current dam over the next 20 years.

We believe this is poor use of public funds and raises serious concerns about how taxpayer and ratepayer dollars are being spent.

This project will likely lead to future requests for millions more in public funding for a project many raster Rochester residents do not support.

This also follows numerous misleading statements made by city staff and the mayor over the past six years in an effort to convince citizens, council members, and state DNR officials that dam removal will improve Silver Lake Park, despite the fact that many residents believe the park has been a valued and cherished cherished community asset for more than 90 years.

We respectfully respectfully ask that you give this request serious consideration before voting on this public expenditure and consider the voices of many Rochester residents who do not support this project.

Whatever happens in the in the project, the main consideration should be the beautification of Silver Lake Park and the removal of all unnecessary um debris in the park and make it fishable for people.

Um the park will be used much more if you made the boundaries of the park a lot nicer.

Thank you, Mr.

Gove.

Okay.

Next up we have Molly Dennis.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Molly Dennis.

A governing principle of America is the constitutional separation of powers.

Dictated by our Rochester weak mayor charter.

Rochester's mayor is non-partisan.

She's not here today, but she's nonpartisan, and she is also part of the executive branch of government.

Residents can easily be confused because both the mayor and the city administrator sit on the high dais of the legislative uh official dais, but both of you are not legislators.

As a former teacher living in Rochester, I have for decades paid a close attention to details and patterns.

I have consistently advocated for honesty, governmental accountability, and fiscal transparency.

As a council member sitting here on the dais, I have proven myself to be nonpartisan, voting for both sustainability and also against a high property taxes because there was not any travel receipts.

I have promoted accessibility and public safety while advocating fiercely for affordability for struggling families here in Rochester.

I have played these games before, and I do not like this game.

Or the unchecked power of the local executive branch.

To change corrupt rules starts with transparency from within.

As someone who listens, who shows up and who does not rubber stamp.

I have been asked by many residents in Rochester from both political parties to run for mayor.

I have been asked to stop this propaganda.

I have been asked to bring resident voices back into the public agenda, and I have asked to be protect the rights of people here in Rochester.

Thank you, Miss Dennis.

Transparency of trust.

Thank you.

Integrity matters.

And on August 11th, I hope you vote for Molly for Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Romere's Biddle.

Good evening, everyone.

To the mayor who's not here today, the city council that is here present before me, and to all the public that is here listening in the in the back and then the uh and then the uh TV waves.

Because I have three concerns addressing the city.

One um is traffic lights, and then I noticed that for many multi multi-lane roads, there's only one directional traffic light above the road, and then there's one on the side, and then there's one that is above the road, there's a left turn protected light.

My concern is that if there's when this is a multi-lane road, and uh 18 wheeler is blocking the traffic light that is on the side, but one but the one directional light is out.

It's hard to is very a very dangerous thing can happen that one might assume that um that because this one's not showing red that uh that it's okay to go.

Now we all gotta understand common sense should be common, but it's not so common.