Here.

Coleman.

Here.

Johnson.

Joe's here.

Kim.

Here.

Yang.

Council President Acre.

Here.

Six present, one absent that being Councilmember Johnson, and she is excused.

Welcome everyone.

Thanks so much for taking time to join us for our city council meeting today.

We invite everyone to join us in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

One nation under God.

Liberty and justice for all.

See none.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Six in favor, none opposed.

The consent agenda is adopted.

Item number fourteen is first reading of ordinance twenty-six-two.

Changing references in the legislative and administrative codes from animal control to animal services and correcting typographical errors.

And uh for those of you joining us or tuning in, um, we always have three readings of any ordinance.

The first reading we have a staff report, so folks know what the ordinance is about.

The second reading the next week is a public hearing, and then uh the third week is final adoption.

Sometimes we have a little more time between those if we need time for amendments or more consideration.

But you'll see that there's first readings, there's public hearings, and then uh this week we don't have anything for final adoption.

But the first reading of this ordinance, um, because it's the first reading, we'll have a staff report, so we welcome up director Angie Weesey from the Department of Safety Inspections.

Welcome.

Thank you very much, Council President, and good afternoon, Council members.

Uh, this is super straightforward but incredibly lengthy.

Uh but uh the term animal control is very outdated in the animal services world, and uh it comes from a time when animal care looked a lot different than it does now.

Uh one of the the drivers to make this change now is that we're preparing to move into a new space, and we want to brand that new space with animal services rather than the uh outdated term of animal control.

Um, and this is like probably the most fun presentation I will ever get to do in front of you.

And so I picked all of these lovely pictures that were sent to me from animal services over the last couple years.

And uh like the cat in the the cage at the bottom there was just left outside of animal services one day.

That's they arrived to, and she is not happy to see us.

Um the iguana was found at large and was reunited with fortunately with its very, very relieved owner.

Um that turtle there is uh native to the Sahara Desert, but is known to be a digger and got uh escaped from its enclosure.

We don't know where, and and oddly enough, its owner did not contact us uh to retrieve it, so it was rehomed with uh a foster family.

Um the goose is a name that I cannot pronounce, but it's a domestic goose, and those feathers being frilled like that is how they are.

Isn't she beautiful?

Uh so yeah, there's a story to all of these, and we we do a lot more than than dogs and cats.

Uh and we just we provide a number of services that uh that are more than just control of animals, and uh any animals that are not reunited with their original owner, we work really, really hard with uh nonprofits to do fostering and to re-home uh every animal that comes into our care.

So here I hit the button on my computer instead of this one.

Uh this is just a summary of the changes.

We uh uh one of the big ones that we've already taken care of is to change the name of the actual titles of the folks working here.

So they used to be called animal control officers, HR we worked with, and you all approved the name change some years ago to uh animal services officer and animal services manager.

Uh as we have found in some of our other very old ordinance language, there are um gendered language that we always remove every time we open up an ordinance, and then just some as noted typographical errors.

This is extremely long in ordinance because this term is used so often in our legislative chapters, and so these are all of the chapters that animal control is in, uh, and it has been changed everywhere.

So really straightforward, just quite long.

Uh and with that, I'll take any questions.

Kind of hoping for more pictures, but thanks so much, Director.

Um I appreciate it because it it's clear that this is maybe a it's a change in name, um, but it's reflecting a really substantive and important change that you're highlighting for us.

So thank you.

Questions from my colleagues.

Um, Ms.

Bowie.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, thank you, Director Weezy.

Um, I appreciate you just bringing this code up here, and I understand that there's been a long time with developing this.

I think particularly in a time that we're in right now, I would like to know.

I know this isn't uh pertain to the actual ordinance that we're that's introduced.

Um, but if you could speak particularly around how the animal service um officers um you know being seen in uniform, out in public, you know, how are they um you know really distinguishing themselves from what we see with the ICE agents and also ununiformed agents because I mean I think everyone is having a sense of urgency right now, um, if you can speak to that.

Uh I appreciate you bringing that forward, Councilmember Bowie.

We have DSI has a number of individuals who are both in and out of uniform.

So our fire service or sorry, our fire safety inspectors wear uniforms, our animal service officers wear uniforms, but we also have a number of inspectors who are in plain clothes in people's houses and businesses every single day, and this is uh definitely a trying time for them as they are trying to conduct business and people bring keep people safe, bring people together, um, and foster that sense of community uh in the field every single day.

Um we've encouraged everyone.

I don't have my lanyard on me, but I wear it everywhere.

It's in my bag right now, but to make sure that they have their picture ID with them.

If somebody is uh second guessing who they are, are they really with the city?

Are they who they say they are to call our office to verify that their employee if they want, if the individual wants to record them, they are welcome to be recorded.

And we again to foster that sense of community because we are there to serve them.

And uh as they're there doing their jobs and being recorded might feel uncomfortable, but there's we're uh just get my good side is is the standard line on that one.

Um it is uh definitely uh a trying time, and I know that the city as a whole is working to put together communications so that our residents and businesses know what each of the different uniformed personnel look like and what they could and should be wearing on their apparel.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Other questions?

Not seeing any.

Thanks so much, Director.

We will see this back for public hearing next week.

Thank you.

Well, item is laid over to January 21st for second reading public hearing.

Item number 15 is second reading public hearing of ordinance 26-1, modifying and establishing certain city council staff positions in chapter 16 of the administrative code.

So this brings us to the public hearing section of our agenda.

Um, when your item is called for a public hearing, we ask um, oh, I'll say this is a public hearing.

Is there anyone here to speak on the subject?

And when I say that, um, we invite you, if you're here to speak on it, to come and stand just in between those two microphones on the dais.

You don't need to adjust them, they should pick you up just fine.

Um, you'll have two minutes to testify, which go by quickly.

My unenviable task is to keep everyone to two minutes.

Um there is a clock right in front of you as you're testifying, so you'll see that.

Please start with your name and where you're coming from.

You don't need to give us your specific address, but general neighborhood, general city.

Um, and then when you're done testifying, please sign in on one of the two sign-in sheets on either side.

Uh so with that, item this is item 15.

So this is your public hearing.

Is there anyone here to speak on this item?

Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms.

Coleman to close the public hearing and lay the matter over till January 21st for final adoption.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

Six in favor, none opposed.

The ordinance is laid over to January 21st for final adoption.

Item number 16 is resolution public hearing 26-6.

Final order approving the 2026 St.

Anthony Rondo Arterial Mill and Overlay project.

Oh, and we have a staff report.

Sometimes we have a staff report not on first reading.

Welcome up.

And can I please get the uh the overhead camera?

Voice activated overhead projector.

Voice activated overhead project.

Yes.

All right.

Just give it a moment.

But you can start introducing yourself.

Uh Council President and Council members.

My name is Brian Gravlin.

I'm the transportation planning lead for the St.

Anthony Rondo Mill and Overlay Project.

Uh today I'm gonna briefly tell you about the rationale for the project, the project design, the work we've done to get to this point, and our timeline moving forward.

So, first, the project will cost four and a half million dollars, and it's funded through a combination of our arterial mill and overlay program as well as property assessments.

The arterial mill and overlay program identifies streets with poor pavement condition and high traffic volumes, such as St.

Anthony Rondo, um, and it grinds off the top layer of the street and replaces uh a new layer of asphalt over the top.

It's a less robust but also less expensive uh form of street maintenance compared to reconstruction.

Uh well, the primary purpose of the project is to improve the pavement condition.

Uh the project does also allow us to improve bicycle connectivity along the corridor.

So two years ago, we completed a similar project on Concordia Rondo.

Uh, and that's a one-way eastbound street that forms a two-way couplet around I-94 with St.

Anthony Rondo.

As you can see in this image of uh Concordia Rondo two years ago, we resurfaced that street and added a buffered bicycle lane.

We plan to carry out similar improvements when we repave St.

Anthony Rondo.

Uh we'll also add pedestrian improvements such as ADA curb ramps and curb extensions.

Uh we performed the planning and design of this project throughout 2025, as well as now in early 2026, and that included hosting a community meeting at the Rondo Library in October of 2025.

Uh we intend to construct this summer if uh all proceeds as we expect.

And next, my uh colleague Lynn Rolfe is going to speak to the assessment side of this.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Before you go away, any questions on the project itself for my colleagues?

Doesn't look like it.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks.

Welcome up, Ms.

Rolf.

Thanks for being here.

Hello.

I'm Lynn Rolfe.

I'm with the Office of Financial Services, and sorry I have to have my glasses on or I can't read.

So I'm actually going to talk a little bit about item 16 and 17, just in case we have anybody here for that.

Um so the resolutions before you today, 16 is for the St.

Anthony Rondo Arterial Mill and Overlay Project.

17 is the Wheelak Grotto Phase 2 street reconstruction and mill and overlay.

And both projects are managed by public works.

Chapter 13 of the city charter requires that street improvement projects be considered by the city council first with a preliminary order and a final order.

And the preliminary orders were approved on December 10th of 2025.

And they included a copy of the special benefit analysis prepared by Hosh appraisal and consulting.

The assessments were calculated following the approved special assessment policy.

We begin with the city cost at 75% and assessable cost at 25%.

Once the assessment amount is calculated, the amount is compared with the special benefit assessment amount, and the final assessment is the lesser of those two amounts.

For this, the um St.

Anthony, the assessments account for 11.2% of the project cost.

Just an FYI for you.

And then the assessment is applied to all properties abutting the streets being approved.

Tax exempt properties such as colleges, hospitals, the city, the state are all assessed.

Properties owned by federal government are generally exempt by federal law from paying local assessments.

And then certain other properties that are public, publicly owned and certain cemeteries are also exempt by state law from paying the assessment.

These are evaluated on a case-by-case uh basis, and then we consult with the city attorneys when needed.

Staff are requesting that item number 17 be continued until January 28th.

There was a delay in the notices being mailed where to meet the requ legal requirements for today's public hearing.

I'm available to answer any questions from you, or if there are any property owners that would like to meet outside.

Great.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Ralph.

And always really appreciate your reminder of sort of how these assessments are done, how much is paid for by the individual assessments versus the rest of the taxpayers and other funds, and then your willingness to be available if folks have specific questions about their bill to talk to you.

So appreciate that.

Any questions for my colleagues before we open up the public hearing on this?

Ms.

Bowie.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you so much for being here.

And um just giving the refresher.

I I do want to just make sure we have some clarity.

Um, because I remember the first time around when we were doing uh Rondo Concordia.

Um there is a questions, particularly around for nonprofits and churches and in schools.

I think in this case, we also still have some churches, so are they exempt or they're assessed.

Okay.

And can you speak to like is it federal law or state statute that exempts uh federal buildings or state buildings?

They are by law legally exempt.

So it is it is not part of our ordinance, it is state law.

Okay, okay.

So the source of that law is state.

Yes, that's state legislation.

Okay.

Okay.

Thanks so much.

We'll have you back if we have further questions.

All right, so with that, um, this is on item 16.

This is St.

Anthony Rondo, and then we'll move to Wheeler Auto after that.

So this is the public hearing.

Is there anyone here to speak on this item?

Seeing none, I will take a motion from Ms.

Bowie to close the public hearing and approve.

Discussion on that motion, Ms.

Bowie.

I would like to um I would if you know if I can get the support of my colleagues to lay this over to the 28th.

Um, I I want to be able to talk, particularly um with the staff.

Um, there was some residents who had shared that they did not receive the letter.

Um, I um will also want to thank uh director Kershaw getting back to me showing a copy of the letter and receiving that letter, but I just want to just make sure that we have accuracy um and we're not you know removing people's opportunity to to you know enter public hearing if they have more questions.

Okay.

Okay, so the motion will be to lay over till January 28th.

Yep, for both item um 17 and 16.

Okay.

Um we'll take item 16 first, and I know there's already a plan to lay over 17.

Um, is there any?

I guess Miss Ms.

Ralph, or I'm so sorry I forgot your name from public works.

Brian.

Um just curious if there's any concern about that delay from the project standpoint, so we understand the context.

Council President Naker, there's no downside to doing that.

That's not an issue.

Great.

Vice President Kemp.

Um, just to clarify, I'm I'm planning on um continuing yeah, the public hearing.

Yeah, okay.

So continuing the public hearing is all in it over.

Yes, thank you.

Continuing public hearing.

Thank you.

Great, thank you.

So the motion is thank you is to continue the public hearing until January 28th.

Any further discussion of the motion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Six in favor, none opposed.

The public hearing is continued to January 28th, 2026.

Item number 17 is resolution public hearing 26-5.

Final order approving the 2026 Wheel Lock Grotto Phase 2 area paving and lighting and mill and overlay project.

And this one it does not look like we have a staff report.

Okay, this is a public hearing.

Is there anyone here to speak on this item?

Seeing that I'll take a motion from Vice President Kim to continue the public hearing till January 28th.

Any discussion of the motion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

Six in favor, none opposed.

The public hearing is continued to January 28th.

Item number 18 is resolution public hearing 26-2.

Accepting grant funds authorizing execution of a grant agreement and amending the operating budget with respect to the city sponsorship of a Metropolitan Council demonstration account for affordable homeownership grant for the benefit of the Rondo Community Land Trust mixed use redevelopment at 642 Celly Avenue.

This is a public hearing.

Is there anyone here to speak on this item?

I'll take a motion from Ms.

Bowie to close the public hearing and approve.

Any discussion of that motion?

Seeing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

Six in favor, none opposed.

The resolution is adopted.

Item number 19 is resolution public hearing 26-1, accepting grant funds authorizing execution of a grant agreement and amending the operating budget with respect to the city sponsorship of a Metropolitan Council Livable Communities Demonstration Account for Affordable Homeownership Grant for the benefit of Amani Construction and Development LLC's Serenity Town Homes Redevelopment and Zero Bush Avenue.

I think that one might win the longevity prize.

Is there anyone here to speak on this item?

Seeing none.

I'll take a motion from Ms.

Yang to close the public hearing and approve.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

Six in favor, none opposed.

The resolution is adopted.

Legislative hearing consent agenda items 20 through 35 are before you for your consideration.

Welcome up, Ms.

Mormont.

Sorry.

Welcome up.

Came faster than I expected.

Sorry, Council.

There's two items to be read into the record today.

And the first one I believe is item number 21 regarding 2350 Bayless.

Item number 21 is RLH SAO 25-56, appeal of Seth Richardson to a summary abatement order at 2350 Bayless Place.

Ms.

Mormond.

Council President.

This is a summary abatement order to reduce the height of the boulevard planting.

The boulevard ordinance provides that plantings may reach 60, excuse me.

36 inches in height, but 18 inches if they're within 30 feet, I believe, of a driveway or uh intersection.

The area that we're talking about today had been considered intersection.

And in the redesign of this area, it appears that the engineers said it wasn't an intersection any longer, but other engineers and public works have looked at it and said yes, it does meet the definition of intersection.

So setting that aside, and I'd like to show you an area of the um uh area here.

This excuse me, this is not coming out the way I want this is um the property here, and this boulevard you can see is kind of a strange layout.

Let me make that a little bit bigger for you.

It is perhaps the deepest section of boulevard I have seen to date.

And uh there is a water garden that's been planted here.

The order from the Department of Safety and Inspection was to reduce the height of the plantings from uh where they're at now, which was arguably in the four-foot range to 18 inches uh throughout.

However, there's been an elaborate um rain garden planted, and I was trying to carve a solution where we could try to meet the interests of both.

Uh the public works when I met with them and the city attorney on this.

We talked about probably the best solution for carving out a variance of the code, which is quite black and white.

And I know we don't want to be as black and white with Boulevard areas, but it is.

And so more or less, you know, just a little bit south of that bright pink line is what the sight line should be for someone who's driving if there isn't a stop sign there at all.

So my suggestion is is that rather than the 18 inches that the department had written orders on, because that's what's in the boulevard code, that two feet or less be allowed in the area here that is closer to the corner, and that up to five feet or less can be allowed in the area that's closer to the sidewalk.

And that is, of course, a substantial variance from the code and height, but I think that given the intentional planting, the distance from the street, that these can be considered a little bit differently.

I believe that what the owner would like to talk about is having it be uh greater height up to the curb all the way around.

Uh right now the ordinance uh in front of you, or excuse me, the resolution in front of you reflects um this proposal.

Great.

Thanks, Ms.

Mormon.

Uh, any questions from Ms.

Mormon before we open up the public hearing?

All right, seeing none.

Um, for legislative hearings, we'll do five minutes for the property owner.

Sure, my boy.

Great.

Yes.

I think so.

Yes.

Okay.

Uh so we'll have five minutes for the the property owner, and then anyone else wants just to testify.

You can have two minutes.

Uh welcome up.

And just as a reminder, please start with your name where you're coming from, and I'll have five minutes.

All right.

Hello, I'm uh Seth Richardson.

I live at 2350 Bayless Place over in St.

Paul.

Uh you know, thank you for taking the time to hear me.

Um, so I'm the steward of the rain garden.

I moved there in 2022 and took over care of it from the uh previous owner, Stephen Masty, who uh went to great lengths to make sure that it was a thriving ecosystem.

Um, you know, to give you a little bit of background, uh, I think you guys have uh seen most of it, but uh I I've taken care of it for three years hasn't been a problem up until uh this year essentially when a uh code enforcement officer came and wrote me a ticket for something that I was unaware I was in violation of.

Uh the reason that he said he was out there was because of my uh park bugle sign, so he wasn't even out there for the height of uh the plants.

Um so uh I I was very I have I've been very happy through the legislative process of the willingness to work uh with me, but um you know the fact of the matter is that this is a delicate ecosystem that has been planned out with some city money, might I add.

And uh the 24-inch requirement along that site line uh probably is not feasible, right?

Without some pretty significant investment that I just do not have the funds for, right?

So the uh the 24-inch rule would functionally mean the end of this rain garden, which uh hopefully you've been able to review some of the uh community comments about it.

People in this neighborhood really like the rain garden, like it is a bright spot for the neighborhood.

People take pictures in front of it.

I can't tell you how many kids I see go out and take their school photos the first day of school there.

I actually just took a uh photo of the mom and her kid there the other day, right?

So um to give you an idea of why it wouldn't work, um, more than a third of the plants will uh grow higher than that 24-inch requirement.

So there's no real way to go in and weed out all those plants because it is a native mix of plants, right?

Um I I don't know really what else I can add.

Um, I mean, the the only thing that I will say is that uh you know the city literature does you know uh uh kind of encourage rain garden planting, but it seems that uh maybe you know, code might not be in line with what the city's goals are environmentally speaking, because I have a native mix of uh plants in there that help the water and you know, I think help the neighborhood as well.

I think I've uh uh brought in plenty of opinions to show that that is the case, and it seems like there is maybe a uh um you know the right hand doesn't know what the left hand's doing, something like that.

Right.

Um so uh with that, I guess I'll just end and say look, rain gardens are good for their environment.

I think they make this city unique.

I think the uh integration of uh the environment into the twin cities is what makes this a unique place to live, and I would be uh you know, pretty sad if this has to go away.

I find a lot of zen in uh taking care of this for my community.

So great.

Thank you very much.

Make sure to sign in.

Anyone else here to testify on this item?

Welcome up.

Hello, I'm Pat Thompson.

I'm a board member of the St.

Anthony Park Community Council, and also the co-chair of the transportation committee for the St.

Anthony Park Community Council.

And that of course is the district council where this rain garden is located.

Our district council is appreciative of the hearing body that found this boulevard is uh not considered an intersection, which would have limited the plants to 18 inches.

And when the street was rebuilt, it was done at this location, particularly for traffic calming purposes, and the street pattern was changed.

We do really appreciate that flexibility, and I think that's a really great precedent, as you all could see how gigantic the boulevard is at this point.

We hope that even more flexibility can follow now, recognizing that the reconstruction created this giant 25 to 45 foot deep boulevard.

Boulevards of that size can become public spaces for nature and urban wildlife, which has actually been documented by a veterinarian who lives next door to this place.

Um and that supports the climate action resilience plan of our city, a plan that did not exist when the city's boulevard garden ordinance was passed.

So I urge that a variance of some type of this appeal on the plant height can happen while you maybe consider our council's resolution that was submitted in December about the ordinance in general, um, and that boulevard gardens and rain gardens particularly can get different uh consideration within the the range of the climate action and resilience plan.

Thanks.

Thank you very much.

And make sure to sign in.

Uh, anyone else here to speak on this item?

Seeing none, I'll take a motion for Ms.

Coleman to close the public hearing.

All in favor say aye.

Aye, aye.

All opposed?

Six in favor, non opposed.

The public hearing is closed.

Ms.

Coleman.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you to Mr.

Richardson and Ms.

Thompson for joining us today to speak about this matter.

I know that it is um touches on a lot of different things about how we are enforcing our city ordinances.

I I do support the legislative hearing officer's recommendation.

Um I think that there is a lot to consider in this matter as there is any time a legislative hearing item comes before this body.

Um, and that uh what is most challenging here is that we do not get to think about what the law might be in the future, what we wish the law was, but whether how to fairly and justly apply the law in the situation given given the current constraints that we face.

I think that there has been a number of issues raised through this legislative hearing process from the St.

Anthony Park Community Council and others as to how we might rethink our ordinances around boulevard gardens, um, water gardens, rain gardens, other plantings of that nature in the future.

I think that that's very important.

I know it's something that my office is very committed to doing in partnership with community members like Mr.

Richardson and Ms.

Thompson.

That said, we have you know the laws that we have now.

I really appreciate the legislative hearing officer's um willingness to work with Mr.

Richardson, with CAO with others to find um yeah, this opportunity for a variance that I think makes sense in the situation that is guided by the laws that we have, and so I I will be supporting um and will also share a firm commitment to make sure that we are evaluating how we how we analyze boulevard boulevard gardens in the future.

Thanks, Ms.

Coleman.

I I appreciate your drawing that distinction, and it is always a hard one between the policies that we have and then these circumstances that might make us realize we might want to think about those policies and potentially reconsider them, and in the moment we have what we have, but it does sound like in this case there's an attempt being made to balance the need for sight lines to keep everyone safe with the desire to keep um at least some of this very deep boulevard um being able to be used as a rain garden.

So we do have a policy session calendar that we'll be setting very soon, and so it sounds like maybe this will be a topic we can take up in policy committee.

Um, but I will support your motion for now.

Any other discussion of the motion, which is I think to support the legislative hearing officers' recommendation.

Ms.

Bowie.

Thank you, Council President.

I just want to get more clarity around this because I know this came up before um council plenty of times where we've had people have gardens, rain gardens are some type of um native plants um in their boulevard or even in their yard, and you know, just really dealing with the um the heartache and the time that goes into you know our neighbors um taking great pride in preserving that.

Um can you speak to particularly around like what is the what what is the safety concern?

Um, because I think we are we're enforcing you know a code to preserve the safety of you know our neighbors on boulevard.

So that's why we have a 36-inch max and a 18-minute inch max for near intersections or driveways.

You have to be able to see the tricycle that could be coming out.

So that is first and foremost the safety level.

Then what I have in this particular case that makes it differ a little bit from other areas is that there is there are, I should say, two pathways that have been put in between the sidewalk and the street so that there is access there for pedestrians.

Pedestrians being able to pass through a right-of-way is exactly the definition of what a right-of-way is supposed to do.

Provide the public with a right of passage through a shared property.

It's like the general public has an easement on that part of the property so that people can go through.

So you need to have that.

Um I also would add with that you don't want to have a trip hazard installed.

And then there's uh the notion that you don't want to have anything that would screw up snow plowing, and you need to have everything that's installed in a boulevard area be removable.

There are going to be occasions when the city needs to enter into the boulevard area.

There are you know, cables in there for um Comcast.

There are water and sewer lines that are underneath there, and it is always something that the public will have to be able to get into pretty quickly in some cases if something goes wrong.

So in this particular case, I I see that the main thing here I think that makes it different is not only the pathways through the boulevard itself, but um the tremendous depth between the curb and the sidewalk in some areas.

It is very large.

I think the area we're talking about here as having it be 24 inches or less is maybe 15 percent of the area of the boulevard.

So it's it's a it's a nominal amount in my view of the entire rain garden planting.

Uh but those are the things that I've been thinking about.

This particular one.

Does that answer your question, Councilmember?

Yep, thank you.

Okay, thanks, Ms.

Mormon.

All right, to motion on the table.

Any further discussion?

Seeing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye aye.

All opposed.

Six in favor, none opposed.

The resolution is adopted.

Ms.

Mormont.

The second item.

The second item to be read into the record would be number 31 pertaining to 1079 Western.

Item number 31 is RLH SAO 26-3.

First making finding on the appealed nuisance abatement order for 1079 Western Avenue North in Council File RLH SAO 25-71.

You can just wait one minute, sir, because we'll have a quick staff report and then there'll be the public hearing.

Yes, Ms.

Mormont.

Council President, um, the the summary abatement order uh to clean up different parts of this property was issued on November 12th.

That or the deadline in the order to clean up the elements discussed was November 19th.

That was you know, the there was an appeal filed to and the reason listed in the appeal was to get an extension of time to be able to manage these things.

So there's uh staggered deadlines that are in front of the council that were excuse me in front of the city council when you adopted the resolution giving the deadlines that was um December 17th, where the city council gave the staggered deadlines in it had December 31st for removal of storage tires and pallets, January 30th for the remaining items uh besides the pallets licensed tree debris and then removal of the lattice and tree debris uh and the totes and so on, an extension to the end of May.

So trying to make it a manageable work plan.

Uh the first check-in, of course, is for compliance as of January 5th.

And um, ask excuse me, as of the end of December and January 5th, the inspector went by and took photos.

Uh what we see in the photos here is we can see the pallets and these the the blue here is the pallets that are piled on the property, and they remain there uh undealt with.

And then also here are the tires that were in the original set of orders that continue to be there.

So we're looking at this point of an original order, November 12th, and we're two months down the line, looking for those items to be addressed.

As they have not been addressed on deadline, I would recommend the council make that finding and authorize the Department of Safety and Inspections to obey to those two items.

Thanks, Ms.

Mormon.

Any questions before we open up the public hearing?

Doesn't look like it.

Don't go too far.

This is the public hearing, and I think you're the property.

You'll have five minutes.

Welcome up.

Hello.

I am the old property owner of 1079 Western Avenue.

As of Jesus.

Tell us your name.

Sorry.

Miguel Neely.

I'm sorry.

Um January 5th.

I don't know when that individual snuck onto my property and took pictures, but um, I don't believe it was that date because I have pictures to says that the tires were already removed.

Um I do have an issue with the pallets.

Um because the pallets are food grade pallets, I'm unable to take them to the dump.

I'm unable to take them to the pallet place down the street from my home.

The only place that will accept them is the company that's owned in Georgia.

I've made numerous calls to that company to ask them to come and pick these pallets up and up yet to receive the call back.

I'm just asking for an extension to go forward until I can get this address.

But I have made improvements to my property, and I want that to be recommended.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Um if you haven't already done so.

Um anybody else here to testify on this item.

Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Vice President Kim to close the public hearing.

All in favor say aye.

All opposed?

Six in favor, none opposed.

The public hearing is closed.

Vice President Kim.

Vice President Kim.

Ms.

Yang.

Do you have a question?

Yeah, I have a question.

Yeah, go for it.

Thank you, Council President and Council Vice President.

March, I have a question for you.

Do you know if the pallets can be picked up through our bulky item service?

I was just gonna ask.

With the with our um garbage hauling contract.

I don't know.

The way people traditionally handle pallets, and I haven't heard this concern since I've been doing this, uh, is to break the pallets down so that they become boards, basically, and then any number of places will take them.

I don't know if uh residential um hauling picks up boards, but there are quite a number of places that do accept scrap wood.

Okay, thank you.

I I just want to make sure we don't miss an opportunity to get that confirmed through our public work staff, and so council vice president.

I I just think it's it would be really important to do that first before we make a decision here.

And maybe if if they don't do the pickups, they can provide advice to the resident on what to do so that we can so that they can uh properly dispose of the item because I know there are businesses in um our city, like I've seen lots of pallets get piled up and on uh some businesses like over in Ward One.

I remember seeing that, and I don't know what they do to dispose of their pallets either.

So I just don't think that um I think that there's a way you know for us to find a resolve.

Thanks, Ms.

Yang.

Vice President Kim.

Um that was one question I had.

The other clarification that I wanted was were the photos of the improvements submitted to you as evidence of like part of the manageable work plan that was submitted.

So the he just um noted the photo evidence of sort of that improvement um was that submitted to you by chance.

No, I haven't received anything.

I have the photos from January 5th when the inspector was there.

Uh I can say that if the council, you know, the council is making a finding about whether or not it was addressed by the end of December, it wasn't addressed by January 5th by the time the inspector was there.

However, if a crew is dispatched and it does not exist, they will not be picked up, obviously.

Yeah, okay.

Um yeah, I'm going to uh sort of take the recommendation of my colleague.

It was the exact thought that I had.

Let my office just uh I'm gonna lay this over for one week and uh work with the work with uh a homeowner and I actually think there's a lot of uh like artists that would love the tires, um, the pallets that I think could be put to good use.

So let's let's work on it together.

Um, but then you and I will be accountable if we don't get it done in the next week.

Um, we're gonna have to have the city come clean it up.

Does that um actually I can't speak to you that agreement, but that's that's the plan.

So I'm gonna make a motion to lead over for a one week and we'll work together on it.

Um but if we don't figure it out in one week, then the city has to come clean it up.

Thanks, Vice President.

I'm hearing the motion is for a one-week layover till January 21st.

Any discussion of the motion?

Um, sorry, you don't actually you don't sorry, so sorry, you don't actually get to speak again.

Close the public hearing, but Vice President Kim will follow the colour.

I'll come find you.

I'll come find you right after this.

Uh any discussion of the motion?

Seeing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Six in favor, none opposed.

The public hearing is closed and the item is laid over for one week to January 21st.

Ms.

Mormon, anything else from our legislative hearing for separate consideration?

No.

Okay.

Um, then this will be a public hearing for all of the items on the consent agenda.

So if you're here for any item number, what are they?

20 through 35.

This is your public hearing.

Not seeing anyone, I'll take a motion from Ms.

Jose to close the public hearing and approve the items with the recommendations and amendations of the legislative hearing officer.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Six in favor, none opposed.

The legislative hearing consent agenda is adopted as amended.

That brings us to the end of our agenda.

Before we go into news from around the wards, I do just want to take a moment to recognize we have um some folks here from child care uh operators providers in our city who came to express their concerns about the immigration actions they've been seeing in their uh in and around their child care centers.

Um, Vice President Kim, Councilmember Yang and I had a moment to meet with uh them before the meeting and came up with a plan in terms of um future action and a meeting is being held this week with the police chief and with our mayor's office and the council.

But um I just wanted to take a moment to recognize that they took time away from their very busy and also very important jobs to be here today.

And so we really want to thank you not only for being here, but for the work you do and for your advocacy.

Um and with that, um good.

We have time for news from the wards.

Ms.

Bowie.

Yes, thank you.

I would like to have a motion to suspend the rules for us to introduce the first reading of the separation ordinance.

If we could take up a motion, please.

That takes a vote of five, five.

It's five, yeah.

Okay.

I don't think there's anything in legislatar.

Ms.

Bowie, is there anything in legislatar?

Uh I just entered the amendment for Chapter 44 amendment.

I did have a chance to talk with um our attorneys, particularly around you know, doing first introduction of it.

So I would like to first as a vote for suspending the rules.

I mean, I think it's really important for us to recognize our privilege in this moment, although I do appreciate you know bringing community here, the knowledge in community.

But you know, in our privilege as council members, we have the power and responsibility to add our fingertips to make sure we're utilizing the agenda and having something on the agenda where we're taking the first step.

Um, I'm really just asking for my colleagues um to have us take a procedural step um and bringing forth the first reading of the separation ordinance that many of um the colleagues had worked really hard on in bringing forth that that language we can't bring uh a motion forward unless there's a copy of it for all the council members present.

But I don't think there are.

Okay, so our rules require that we all have a copy of the ordinance in front of us, which we don't have.

Um we can take the there has been a motion for suspension of the rules.

We will take that vote.

It's two-thirds of members present, suspension of the rules, so they're two of them six requirements two-thirds of the members present.

Okay.

Uh so yes, Ms.

Yang.

Thank you, Council President.

Does it need to be a hard copy for that language?

I can't.

Like, do you need it printed?

I can I can speak to that.

Greg.

Um, no, it needs to be it being uploaded in Legistar is okay.

I if it's in Legistar, if you could point me to it, that might be helpful.

Um just it needs to be somewhere visible for both you and the and there needs to be copies for the public that can be legislatar online or that can be paper copies.

Ms.

Bowie.

So it's to my knowledge that that the draft of the ordinance have been given to all of us.

We've reviewed it.

Um we gave feedback to it that that language is already written.

Um and that language is already present.

Now, if we need to do the procedural of it entering into legislatar, um I think you know, I I guess I'll look to our staff to print out the copy if we need to physically look at it.

Um but to my knowledge, we all have reviewed that language, and I think it's important that we take the procedural step um to make sure that we respect the process and I want to suspend the rules so we can actually show to our community members that we're taking some level of action with the powers that we do have.

Okay, thank you, Ms.

Bowie.

It it is on the council member who is bringing the motion to take responsibility for printing out the copies and for making sure the copies are available online.

So I I've at the moment we don't have those.

We might have those next week, but in the moment we don't.

Um so I will not be moving, I will not be voting to suspend the rules.

Um, but there is a motion to suspend the rules.

So I can say one more thing.

You know, it's really important.

I think this is extremely unfortunate that we're not taking some level of action because we don't have printed copies while people are literally getting kidnapped and being terrorized on our streets.

The reason why we're not the reason why we're not going to take some level of action is because we don't have the the practical or procedural step.

We all have this language, we all know the language.

It's important that we at least have first reading so we can get a step forward, because right now we're gonna end this council meeting with doing completely nothing to get a step closer to protecting our residents.

Thanks, Ms.

Bowie.

I see uh comment from Ms.

Yan.

Thank you, Council President.

I just want to clarification, Greg.

If I heard from you earlier, if it's in Legislature, and we can we can clearly look it up, which also the information is in the public is available to the public too, then basically we can we can consider that for today, is that right?

Like if the rules the rules are successfully suspended.

So yes, um, the only thing I'm like is it sounds like the there's reference to being made to the meeting earlier this morning.

Um if we could like if there was an ability to take the time to like pause and then put that legislat that stuff into the council meeting, that would be allowed.

Um but I mean we we do need to follow our procedure here.

So um can I bring a suggestion?

So since um you know we already have you know talked about it in our policy committee meeting of how um council member Coleman um was taking leadership um on this ordinance and bringing it um forward and the plan particularly was to bring it forward.

Um and so I guess I just kind of take it to our councilmember Coleman, who already has the language.

If you can, you know, if we could make that pause and enter into Legislature so we can move forward.

So I've also um Greg emailed you.

So if you want to check your email, do you have a copy of the drafted language via email?

I would also kind of note um and I kind of sent you an email earlier, uh, says that under section 3.02 uh sub three of the charter.

Um ordinance shall be introduced until it has either been approved as to form by the city attorney or until the city attorney has filed with the city clerk a statement of the reasons why the ordinance is insufficient.

So I I guess I my my legal advice to that is we can't introduce uh an ordinance until it has been approved as to form for the city attorney's office, which this is not um okay.

Thank you.

I and I, Ms.

Bowie, I recognize that there is a lot of urgency about this, and I know that we talked about this earlier today.

Um we we need to make sure that anything that we introduce is approved by our city attorney, is following our process, and that it's had time for us to have a staff report as we do at our first reading, that council members have had time to look at it and be prepared, um, and no one is prepared to talk about this right now, and it has not received city attorney review.

So this is not to say that this is not this is an extremely urgent moment, and I know that those who are working on this ordinance are working very quickly to get it ready.

Um, but at the moment it doesn't seem like the steps have been met to bring this forward with integrity to our responsibility as council members.

So I again the motion on the table is to suspend the rules.

I think we need to vote on that motion and then move forward from there.

So let's take a last comment, Ms.

Bowie, and then let's take a vote.

Thank you, Council President.

You know, like I said, it's I came prepared this morning to actually review the language.

That was my commitment.

That's all of our commitments that we said we were going to do.

We did not review that language.

That is troubling.

Now, if we as policymakers have to get clearance um for um our city attorneys, then it's really important that we act in urgency of calling on our city attorney to prioritize this language and give us the approval or give us a legal memo of how it's not deficient.

But this is a process.

A first reading in our public hearing, we have opportunities to make amendments and make tweaks and make changes.

But you know, if we are paralyzed by you know, a process that doesn't allow us to actually bring forth policy that our community really is looking forward to and is depending on to see us act.

It's just extremely unfortunate.

And you know, I I literally, you know, I've I've always deferred to your leadership.

Um, council president Naker, but in this moment I'm very ashamed.

And I think, you know, especially this is the time for us to speak up for our immigrant communities.

You represent the West side, you know, which has a large population of immigrants.

I represent Ward 1 that has a large population of immigrants, and I can't go back to them and say that, hey, I didn't have it printed, or the city attorney didn't get to it.

The city attorney understands can see all over the what what our what our residents are up against, what we all are up against.

Thanks, Ms.

Bowie.

Um, Miss Coleman, and then I really do want to take a vote.

Yes.

I will keep this very brief.

I will be voting against the motion to suspend the rules.

I say this because I have such a deep urgency and a deep need to get this right, something that I think is shared by every single person in this building, and certainly every single member of this body.

I've been very grateful to be working on a revised ordinance with council members Yang and Council Vice President Kim.

I think it is imperative that we get this right.

And I think that that means that we have to follow our procedure.

We have to ensure that we are not opening ourselves up to additional legal liability that will prevent us from doing the work of protecting our residents.

And so while I will vote against the motion today, I want to push back in the strongest possible terms against the motion that not suspending our rules to introduce an ordinance that I have not yet seen completed because the last time I looked at this ordinance, it was not in completed form that that represents a paralysis or a decision not to act.

Because what I have seen from this body from my colleagues from our city staff is people working around the clock to get this done.

I know that we have a team of lawyers in the city attorney's office who have made this a top priority, who we have been in active conversation with, who we are we are working with the utmost of diligence to get this done right, to get this done in a way that actually makes our city safer, recognizing that there's only so much we can do in the face of a federal invasion and a federal attack on our community.

Um so I I just want to make very, very clear to anybody who is listening that the my vote to not move forward in this way is not a vote to not move forward because we are moving forward.

This is urgent, we know that it is urgent, we know that life's are on the line, and that is not something that anybody at this table takes lightly.

Thanks, Ms.

Coleman.

Okay, we're gonna call for Zing, and then we're really really done.

A roll call vote.

Thank you, Council President.

Well, I appreciate you letting um giving us the opportunity to speak, and I do want to share that like to me, there is no urgency in trying to get to the vote right away.

I am actually personally really invested in hearing from our colleagues here about where they are at our ad.

Um when it comes to the the motion that Council Rabui is putting at the table, and even if you don't want to share what your stance is on that, I would just still love to hear any thoughts you have overall.

Um Councilor Bowie, I I really appreciate the boldness that you are bringing to the table here last week.

I talked about how we are living in unprecedented times.

We're living in a crisis where our communities are getting terrorized, everything coming out of Trump's mouth are complete lies, and he's wreaking havoc in our communities.

And you know what?

Like when ICE is no longer here, um, we're gonna be the ones having to clean up after our city and figuring out how we restore our economy here.

We have small businesses that are literally thinking about having to close down for an entire month and even longer than that.

And I don't know how it's how long it's gonna take for them to be able to get back to a place of stability, or even if they are over even going to be opening their doors again in our city.

And so I I just want to say thank you for for really uh living into your role as a council member and and uh really challenging the norms of the council here.

Like I know I know everybody here, like you know, we want process, we want structure, but there are also moments in which we also have to unleash ourselves from that um and and really step into the moment uh that is really needed for right now, which is we need our leaders to be stepping up bold and to really even be creating um giving clarity to community members about what our police officers are actually able to do to protect them.

Like we have child care providers here in the city hall today because they need direction from us.

They need us to even be giving out written information about what our police officers are going to be doing.

It's not enough to just be having separate meetings with people or groups at a time.

We need that clear communication all across our city, and that's what I uh we really like to see delivered, um, especially by the mayor's office, also our police chief, because I mean that's not those are not things that like we have direct decision making over, you know.

I mean, I'm talking about like the everyday operations, and so that is something that I've already shared to representatives of the um from the mayor's office, and again, I think it's incumbent upon all of us here and of the community to be holding um each other and especially our elected officials, us included, you know, accountable to all of those things.

And I I just want to name like you know, I I'm very supportive of of your motion to suspend the rules, and um I there's a lot that I want to say, but the just to keep it really short, I think that um it's really like even if we do first readings for for um policies that we want to put in front of the council, there's always uh opportunities to amend the language, and I do think it's really important for us to have our language get vetted by our city attorneys.

And Dan, when I say this to you, I'm only saying it to you because you're here at the table.

Um, and you know, like you're a part of our city attorney's office.

But I I really want to um share with you and hope that you will convey to um other our other city attorneys who are working on vetting the language that this is really important.

We needed this to be prioritized.

The council here, like we do not have our own city attorneys in our central office team.

I mean, that's something that we would really love to see happen, and I hope that that's an investment we can we can make in the near future.

Um, but I like I really want to see us have uh um an ordinance ready to be looked at for a first reading by next Wednesday.

Like if it's if it's beyond that, it means that it's we are taking too long, and our people are in the community are gonna continue getting hurt, detained, and killed.

And we are just lucky that in St.

Paul, nobody has been killed yet by ice.

But we can't we can't wait for that moment to happen.

And I know it's not a matter of if it's when.

And so um I I don't know exactly like what what's gonna what's gonna happen in terms of the votes, but I just want to be really clear.

Like next Wednesday, we need to have something on the agenda, and even if it doesn't make it in time into our like legislature system where we submit things, this council needs to be ready to be suspending rules to get it onto the council agenda for next Wednesday.

Thanks, Ms.

Yang.

All right, with that, I appreciate everyone's comments, appreciate everyone's sense of urgency.

Let's take a vote on suspending the rules, a roll call vote, please.

Bowie?

Yes, Coleman?

No.

Johnson or Joast?

No.

Kim?

Yes.

Yes.

Council President Naker.

No.

Three in favor, three opposed, and uh four being needed.

The rules are not suspended.

All right.

Uh that brings us to the end of our agenda.

Is there any news from the wards?

Councilbase President.

Um, and I'm sorry to if this is the one you were gonna say.

Um, but last night there was a really robust conversation with Latina owned businesses across the city with the mayor, our council president was there, um, councilman gang, I believe you were there as well.

Um, addressing the very similar issue about being able to afford their mortgage, their protection of their workers and being able to stay open.

And so just really welcoming the robust conversation, the comprehensive approach that the city is taking.

The other good news from the ward is a little bit citywide again.

Um today, um, St.

Paul, St.

Paul um students walked out of school today in protest of ice in our streets and ice in our in Minnesota in response to the additional thousand agents that are being sent here, they're taking a stand for our neighbors.

And so I was very honored for the youths to invite me to speak today.

So I spoke at the rally, and it's just to offer a glimmer of hope that um that it really truly is up to us and our youth.

Um, the youth are really leading the way and they have drawn the line in the sand for us and have sent a very clear message to the Trump administration today.

So today, so that's my good news for the ward.

Good news for the city.

Thank you, Vice President.

Walking uh back to City Hall from a meeting, I got to walk alongside the the march, and it was very it was very hopeful and inspiring.

So thank you.

Other news from around the wards.

Um I will just share that I'm uh my office in collaboration with the Westside Community Organization, Neighborhood House and Copal is hosting um constitutional observer training tomorrow uh at neighborhood house.

I know many of us are doing that as well.

Um the one that is being hosted tomorrow, um, we are at capacity, um, but we will be sending out information about other ones that are happening around the city.

Um I know we've talked about this amongst ourselves, but this is one of those times when I don't think we want to collaborate in terms of uniting on doing one training.

I think we want to all uh be doing as many of these as possible because the demand is so great and people so much want to help and be informed.

Um so with that, Ms.

Ms.

Coleman.

I will just uh jump in on that to say that if you are trying to get into the one tomorrow with council president's office and can't, our word for um training with COPAL is on the 27th, and I do think we still we're getting close to capacity, but we are I think still open for signups.

All right, thanks everyone.

Ms.

Bowie.

Uh well, hopeful news um in the future.

You know, 19th of January is Martha Luther King Day, and I think in honor of his legacy and fighting for civil rights and fighting for humanity.

Um, you know, I encourage all of our um council members to you know really participate in um you know celebrations.

There's going to be several, one of them that we are aware of the the governor um council's um um celebration at the Ordway, which is taking place on Monday.

Um also I will be hosting something with um the executive director Binie Roberts um at Halle Q Brown, really honoring our Rondo elders, and also downtown at Six Mirrors, there's going to be a MOK day social um taking place from 2 to uh 8 p.m.

So you know, it's this is very trying times.

I I I'm sure there's going to be more actions and more demonstrations taking place, but I just wanted to recognize at least you know, on the nineteenth is the Reverend Martin Barton Luther King's um day, and you know, really take that time to reflect.

Thank you, Miss Bowie.

Any other good news or news from around the wards?

Doesn't look like it.

So thanks everyone for a great meeting.

We are joined.