Chair Johnson?

Here.

Six are present.

Zero or one is absent, that being Commissioner Bowie.

Item number one for discussion is resolution twenty-six-eight eight three.

Resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a master legal service agreement with Barnes and Thornburg LLP citywide.

All right.

Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Commissioner Bowie to approve all those in favor.

Seven in favor, zero opposed to resolution is adopted.

Item number two, resolution twenty six-eight eight nine.

Resolution of the housing and redevelopment authority, HRA of the City of St.

Paul exercising the HRA's authority to opt in to and support the Ramsey County Economic Development Authority EVA.

All right.

So over the course, we had different bodies listen to different presentations.

So this is very much a continuation both for the City Council and the St.

Paul HRA.

We have to approve either to opt in to the uh the Ramsey County Economic Development Authority.

We received a presentation in our policy committee.

Um earlier this month, I believe, and we were able to ask any questions.

However, in addition to that, I'm gonna actually welcome up Mr.

Olson at this time.

Um, I want to bring folks' attention to the resolution.

One of the pieces that we um that council leadership as well as the HRA leadership piece have talked about is just wanting to ensure that this body has the ability to approve the spending plan that is implemented for the St.

Paul um portion of the EDA.

So there's a line that is a be it resolved clause that talks through that need for approval.

Because we were all um in back-to-back uh council business meetings that today, we actually just received a um email around 137 today around some of the concerns.

So I'm actually inviting Mr.

Olsen to come and articulate that to this body because there's been several different off conversations, but it's a little confusing to us as to what the actual concerns from the county are related to a one-sentence be it resolved clause regarding the spending plan approval.

And so just wanted to bring you forward to just kind of share what questions you might have.

Welcome, Mr.

Olsen.

Yeah, thank you, Councilmember or Commissioner Chair.

Um I I think we sent a message today um to uh a couple of you just asking for a delay in this piece, and part of that reason was is um we have been asking all of the jurisdictions across Ramsey County for resolutions of support or opting in.

Um, and so the the resolution that um was put forth in your packet is different than what the rest of the the cities across the county have approved, um including 15.

And so we just wanted to take a pause and and just reflect and understand how that deviates and changes um the others just so that we have consistency.

That was our key goal that we wanted to establish across the board as we're going through this process where we're getting um in this case 18 or requesting 18 resolutions of support from every single um city.

So um the message that was just sent today because we we hadn't seen the the language um prior to today was just a request.

Um we did um outline uh a particular uh period of time uh for approval, June 1st is what we had outlined in a memo to you all.

Um I would just say that we built in a short buffer in that process um just strategically, knowing that some councils may take things up or it may not line with their calendars.

So our plan um at the county level is to take up uh the area of operation on June 15th.

So this just or I think that's June 15th, yeah.

Um, or June 16th, excuse me.

Let me correct my words already.

June 16th, which is Tuesday, June 16th.

So pri just making sure that this resolution um happens prior to that is what we're kind of um going towards.

So um, yes, we uh identified a a um a deadline.

Um that was just to hopefully get everyone to align to those dates.

Thank you, Mr.

Olson.

And just to provide some context, so we did receive the resolution draft from Ramsey County.

We also, um, as in the HRA and the uh council leadership, we went through the process of also having our city attorneys review the language that was presented, but we also added in a be it resolved clause for approval of uh the city's portion of the spending plan and also just to bring it back to this body to approve the final what the plan will be to invest the economic development dollars here in the city of St.

Paul.

Are there concerns regarding that request?

Um, I don't know if it's necessarily that I think we're very committed to collaboration on how we come to agreement and how the the HRA dollars or the EDA dollars and the programming that comes from those is kind of established.

I think what we're we're sensitive in this moment is acknowledging that we have resolutions now that are different across jurisdictions and wanting to make sure that we have that correct before we go to the board.

So realizing you had it on your agenda for today, don't want to, you know, I know it's a further delay, but I think it's appropriate given that we just want to make sure that the resolutions are um uh approved and that we can kind of move forward, and so when the board approves the area of operation um later in June, that we're fully vested and everything is right.

Um, so we don't run into further delays or challenges as we get towards an implementation schedule that starts next year.

Okay, I see um Vice Chair Josephan as well.

Um, and I will also see a council president.

One thing I will share with you, and also to my colleagues, we rushed really heavily to get this item on the agenda for to meet your June 1st deadline.

I think if there was cushion and it and the ability to have it, I'm a little disappointed at how over the last two hours this has actually been something that has been brought forward to us.

But also as a reminder, the city of St.

Paul has had a history of being in distinction that we actually differ from all the rest of the municipalities as it relates to the HRA and the spending authority, including having 50% of the EDA pot that we opted in being actually allocated and restricted to the use here in the city of St.

Paul.

And so I don't actually think that we have had a history of conforming to have uniformity across the board as the city of St.

Paul has been distinct, and having a city of St.

Paul and the St.

Paul HRA even have to opt in and approve this process.

And so the timeliness of it, I'm a little concerned about, as well as just the process and procedure for what can be accomplished with the layover.

But out of respect for the for frankly for the county manager's email that I just had a chance to receive, you know, I'm open to a one-week layover for this item.

But my expectations would be that we answer the real question, which is the city of St.

Paul's housing and redevelopment authority would like to have the ability to approve your final plan for the city of St.

Paul.

And so if there's an ability to be able to find or alter language in order to accomplish that, I'm open to that language, but that's part of the reason why the be it resolve clause was there.

And that's actually what some of my colleagues have echoed in response.

It was one of the few edits we received when we shot this around.

And so what I would encourage you all to provide the direction for whom we should be speak with because I actually think it'll be a city also a city attorney's office piece, and I'm just sharing that for uh I see John here to my right, but also because we have a process too of getting folks in, they had very little torn around to be able to even approve the resolution language.

And so from the city side as well as the HRA side, it's hard to do things like that with such a quick turnaround, and out of respect for that process and respect for ours, that's what we would ask for your partnership in order to avoid that in the future because this resolution has been public since it was put on the agenda on Thursday for sure.

And then also we've had previous conversations about our desire for that approval process and authority here, especially with this body and the city of St.

Paul.

So I don't think this was a surprise.

So I just want to be able to share that with you in full transparency.

Vice Chair Joe.

Thank you.

Um I appreciate Mr.

Olson you being here.

I think, and and I am supportive of a one week lay over.

I don't know if anyone's actually made that motion, but I think the the questions I have, I've read the resolution, I really care about the city opting in to the EDA.

Uh, but I do have questions about the last clause that is basically saying that the city's HRA shall annually approve a spending plan.

Um, and I guess my question would be a couple of questions, but um, did the city sit, did the city of St.

Paul's city attorney's office review this entire resolution, including that last clause and approve it.

Um, and then I guess uh the HRA, you know, being this body, um, having a more substantive discussion about if that is in fact what we want to do.

I guess it's not fully my understanding that all of us have agreed to that or that that's the best course of action.

I'm not aware of that being discussed or decided upon yet.

So I will just say that I'm supportive of the layover.

I'm also supportive of approving resolution today, amended with that last part removed.

Um, because I know this is also on the council agenda today, but just wanted to make it clear where I stand on this topic.

Thank you.

And I think to your question, yes, the city attorney's office did actually go through the language and did review it.

We actually, the resolution that's put in front of you came from the city attorney's office prior to this conversation.

Um council president, I'll go to you as I know that this is actually something that you were really you thought would be really beneficial as well, and so I just wanted to tier um this conversation to you all to.

Yeah, thanks.

Thanks, Chair Johnson.

Um, and I think you know, we can have our conversation about what's in front of us as well to the request that's coming from the county.

Um, I'm happy to make the motion for the one-week layover.

I share um, Chair Johnson, your concerns about the the timing, which seems to have been miscommunicated.

We did think that we needed to adopt this today and uh rush to do so.

Um I I also think it's it wasn't clear from the many presentations that we received on this topic that all of the city's resolutions adopted in support of the EDA had to be uniform.

Um I think if it was clear to us that the boilerplate template we received from the county couldn't be modified, then that's something that is would be important to know and to be communicated.

Um obviously, each jurisdiction has the right to pass its own resolutions and to make its own decisions, and so I think that's what we're trying to do here.

To the content of what's in this uh last be it resolved, um, you know, the understanding we've received from the county when we've asked the question about how will the city be able to be a partner in deciding how these dollars are spent within the city of St.

Paul, how will we get to weigh in?

The answer has been that every every allocation of these dollars has to come to the HRA and be approved by resolution.

And that's how the count that's how the HRA ensures that we approve of all of the spending.

Um, it seems that rather than having each item come one at a time to be approved by resolution piecemeal, it makes more sense as long as this body needs to approve all the spending anyway to have a proactive conversation about how we're gonna spend the entirety of these dollars at the outset, and then have those resolutions come in that are affirming a plan that we've already agreed to.

So I think the resolution here is trying to um absolutely conform with the spirit of what the county's proposing and not modify that plan to work together in partnership, but instead of just having every resolution come on its own, having a spending plan that is agreed to in advance by this body, uh Councilmember Kenton.

I'm just gonna ask a few clarifying questions.

Um, potentially to you, Chair.

Um did I hear you correctly?

You said that 50% of what this EDA would.

Like we're we are contributing 50%, or 50% of the funds that is being facilitated through the aid are designated for St.

Paul.

Did I hear you say that correctly?

That is my understanding if we opt in.

Mr.

Olson, could you clarify?

Yeah, um, Madam Chair, uh, commissioners.

Um, so the HRA, which will be the vehicle that um pays for programming that is of the EDA, um, there is a condition um that uh we have geographic parity between the city of St.

Paul and the rest of Ramsey County.

So it's um of the HRA, 50% of the programming and dollars go towards projects and programs in the city of St.

Paul, and 50 go into um uh suburban Ramsey County.

Um so the same logic would move forward in that.

Um we would provided that the city of St.

Paul opts in, then it would be a 50-50 split as well.

Okay.

Um I appreciate that.

Um I also appreciate the understanding that part of the reason why um our resolution is worded the way it is is to avoid multiple projects coming to this body while there is a clear sense and alignment most importantly around the projects that we'd like to have uh seen completed here in the city.

So I think for that reasons I'm actually okay, although it's not my problem, that ours might be worded differently if we take up 50% of what the EDA's work in the county would look like.

Um, and then a follow-up to that is if there's any amendments or changes to the spending plan, would that come back to the HRA?

If they were if there were any changes to sort of the lineup or what would be considered in the project plans, where would that go?

Would it come back to us for approval or what's that process look like?

Yeah, council, uh sorry, Commissioner Naker.

Thanks, Chair uh Johnson.

Um yeah, I mean, the the assumption in the resolution is that we would adopt a spending plan by resolution, and so just like any resolution, we could amend that spending plan also by resolution.

Um, and again, what we've heard from Mr.

Olson and from Ramsey County throughout has been that this is intended to be a collaborative process, which is why I'm I'm I hear that it's mostly just an issue of uniformity.

I'm surprised that there would be any substantive disagreement with this because it's essentially trying to codify what we've heard is the intent is to work together throughout on figuring out how these dollars are spent.

And similarly, if during the year we figure out that actually dollars shouldn't be spent in this way, that we'd be able to have a conversation about that, have that come back to this body to amend.

Um, just like we would have to amend if we had passed a resolution approving spending, we would have to change that as well.

Can I piggyback on my comment by asking another quick question, Chair?

Yes.

Um, thank you.

This is like our this is like our 3.0 of this topic.

Um, Mr.

Olson, I think I had misunderstood this before as well.

So half of the amount in the EDA is spent in St.

Paul.

50% of the amount that that is is in the EDA pool will go to St.

Paul.

But is it also true that the total amount in the EDA is determined by how many cities opt in to the EDA?

Yeah, um, Madam Chair, Commissioners, yeah, this is uh I apologize if I confuse you all.

Um this is a point where this can kind of get out of control in terms of the calculus, sure.

Um, so I'll do my best here quickly.

Um, so if you were um the one thing that's consistent, since uh St.

Paul represents approximately 50% of the number, that's why we get the 5050.

Um, if we have jurisdictions in suburban Ramsey County who choose not to opt in, it would change the overall total budget of EDA programming, but not necessarily change the value of where the city, City of St.

Paul's programming would be at.

So for example, if it's a two million dollars, which was what we anticipated, your opting in would essentially mean a million dollars for programming within the city of St.

Paul.

If a jurisdiction in suburban Ramsey County chooses not to, um, that number could be diminished slightly or substantially depending on who opted out.

Um and in this case, we only have one jurisdiction who's yet yet to um opt in, and that's North Oaks.

So that number would only like fluctuate a little bit.

So it might be 1.95 million or something like that is the total budget or related to the EDA.

And if you as a follow-up, Commissioner Naker.

And if the city of St.

Paul opted out of the EDA, then the total amount of the EDA budget would be significantly smaller, and that would be split amongst the suburban cities that had opted in.

Yeah, maybe a uh Madam Chair uh Councilmember Naker, another way to think about it is if it's two million and one million is in the city of St.

Paul.

If city of St.

Paul chooses to opt out, then the remainder amount is the EDA budget for the rest of the county.

So that 1 million to 900,000 in my my concept or my idea um would be related to programming um in suburban Ramsey County because um as we've worked with suburban communities, it's been clear that they've wanted to kind of move forward with this EDA programming.

Um and so we would adjust.

This is not in some ways in uh uh different than how we have some of our programming already set up.

Um our Ramsey County receives a direct allocation from the federal government for CDBG, that's separate from the allocation that goes to this uh city of St.

Paul.

So our programming is limited only to suburban Ramsey County, so um, you know, we would adjust uh accordingly if necessary.

Okay, I see uh I think I saw your your hand first, Commissioner Yang before Commissioner Kim, and then we'll go Commissioner Yang.

Thanks, Chair Johnson.

Well, I just wanted to say thank you for taking your questions and overall wanted to share my support for the one-week layover.

Commissioner Kim.

I'm also supportive of the one week layover.

I'm not really interested in amending the language because I think to the um Chair Naker's point.

Sorry, the formalities are weird.

Um I think an agreement is good as the paper it's written on, and so if there is alignment, um I don't have any um issue with the resolution in its current form, but we'll be supportive of the the one-week layover.

Thank you, Commissioner Kim.

Just looking around if there's any additional questions while we have them.

Commissioner Bowie.

Just like out of curiosity, since we're you know really um asking the questions and getting clarity around it, uh, well, first I want to say I do support the one week layer over as a as a courtesy.

I do I'm just hearing the conversation.

I'm not sure what's gonna really change within a one week, if there's gonna be any amendments, but I do think in terms of the sake of the partnerships, ensuring that we understand what this um resolution will be.

But but my question, um, given that we understand like the 50% um allocation, would the spending plan uh would that requirement be solely on the 50% that's going into St.

Paul, or would this the expectation is the spending plan we adopt it for all of Ramsey County?

It's just only St.

Paul.

I just wanted to clarify.

And would that be is that spending plan, is that led by the county um to the St.

Paul HRA, or is that something that our HRA director will be presenting to us?

Yeah, so I can just share that at this time the way that the resolution that was kind of provided to everyone only pertains to the city of St.

Paul's approval.

So we are not interested.

I just want to be clear for the record as well.

So is in the 10th, and I welcome the feedback that comes from county partnership, especially if you feel that if the county feels that we may need to further clarify just that.

I my understanding of what the intent was behind the language that's there on the beat resolve clause is that there's interest in this body being able to approve the spending plan for St.

Paul.

And so that I don't think it bleeds into the overall spending plan that they have for the full amount, it's as it pertains to the city.

And then what as a result of the adoption of this resolution, the spending plan will be led by the that in terms of like the reporting that will be led by the county.

I mean, obviously, I think in partnership as well with I'm looking kind of at uh director with me, and I think the the piece of getting the annual spending plan, right?

We'll get that information from the county, bring it to the body as we would any other item, and just for support of like some sort of sign that this is a support from this body and moving it forward.

So I appreciate it.

It was my assumption as well, but I just think just like the it's good to clarify.

Yeah, it's just under in it.

I think I just stand, you know, in in full agreement in terms of, you know, I don't want to support uh amendment to the language.

I think it's pretty clear.

Like we, whenever we adopt anything as a budget or any you know spending, there's a plan that comes or report that comes to us.

So um, but I do appreciate, you know, not knowing all the details in terms of why we need a one-week layover, but I I also um just support my colleagues with that supporting it.

Commissioner okay, Commissioner Coleman.

I think I saw a hand, so I'm trying to figure out if I can phrase this into a question because I I'm a little bit confused, and some of these are probably questions that are better asked offline.

I'll say from the jump, I support um the one we play over, no questions about that.

I do I do think I'm confused about the piece that was mentioned.

I think by Commissioner Naker about how the intent has always been that we would be approving any programmatic dollars spent from this from the EDA that are spent in St.

Paul.

I wasn't aware of that previously, so I think it may be helpful to just understand that process a little bit better and what how other cities were planning to operationalize that, having not included this whereas clause, or be it resolved clause.

I am not, I think, I'm the newest one here, so I could just totally be missing things.

I'm not aware of other examples where we've been approving how the county spends county dollars, or conversely, where the county is approving how we spend city dollars or city HRA dollars.

So I think I'm having some misunderstandings here, but it would be helpful to understand what that process was and how it was envisioned by the county, and again, how other cities that have already opted in might be planning to operationalize that, if not through a similar clause, the one that's currently included in here.

So um per the HRA, our enabling statute, um, projects um located within the city of St.

Paul, located within the city of Roseville, the city where that is located, those projects do require a municipal support.

Um, and so that that is a requirement, and as part of our projects prior to projects going towards you know their final um approval and and receiving of money, um, have to demonstrate that they have that municipal support.

So that process is in place, and I think we we do that.

I think what's just asked here is just differently is approval of a plan ahead of uh when that spending happens, um, is just a question that we want to kind of understand and how that is extrapolated out over, you know, in this case, potentially 18 jurisdictions in Ramsey County.

Um, and so just I want to acknowledge that's that's part of the reason why we're asking for the delay is just so that we understand the nuances between this new um new process with that would be a formed of the EDA um and so that we get it right and the expectations are established from the get-go.

Um, you know, I think it's it's can be administrative burden to kind of make sure that we meet all the quality meet all the requirements after things are done.

So I just want to acknowledge that that's what we're we're just I think in this process trying to do the due diligence to make sure that we understand that uh we have all the things in place.

Um and the last thing I'll say there isn't uh a very um crystal clear uh playbook that's associated with this EDA um in statute.

Um and so we're making some you know hard invest good rulings around that um as we kind of talk about how cities opt in um how cities um you know uh articulate their approval of projects um as well as you know other things that are associated with the with the EDA.

So um yeah it's just it's I think we're in a little bit in uncharted waters with all this thing, and so I think just taking the moment to kind of acknowledge those those situations is kind of why we're asking for the delay.

All right, vice chair.

I just one quick thing.

Yeah, I um I I also shared some of some of that confusion that council coleman just shared.

I um or questions.

I uh I think that wanting to understand what the process looks like with regard to the language at the end of the resolution is important because I think that um you know us opting into the EDA and then the city receiving these funds and when we you know receive funds they come before us on our agenda for approval.

Usually as individual items, is different than approving an a plan in advance and what you know what does that look like because um and so I think that's kind of where I was you know had the questions about is understanding what exactly does that does that look like um and and how does that collaboration work?

Because I do think that that is what we're after here, right?

Is that collaboration between the city and the county when we're looking at getting 50% of these dollars and so um so yeah, I I think that's what I'll be most interested in in this one week layover is trying to understand what that looks like.

Um but appreciate uh appreciate you being here today.

Uh, thanks to my colleagues too for for the discussion.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you for being here, making the time to come.

I know that this will have to go before both bodies, and just so we just clarify we aren't it's not a state statutory deadline, it's uh deadline that the Ramsey County was operating under for the June 1st piece that we won't have any issues if it comes to a future meeting of June 3rd.

Yeah, Madam Chair, Commissioner, uh yeah, yes.

Um, thank you for speedily getting towards that June 1st, but we we do have a little bit of wiggle room um before uh our county board has to take up this item on June 16th.

Okay, wonderful.

Um, so with that, I see a motion from Commissioner Naker to move a one week later layover of this item.

I'm assuming we'll probably, you know, maybe do the same on the council agenda today, but um I see the one we lay where I heard a lot of support for that.

I don't think there's any further questions, but any discussion.

Seeing none, all those in favor.

Senate in favor, zero posed, deciding is laid over to the June 3rd HRA meeting.

Item number three is the staff report, SR26-107.

Full stack St.

Paul update.

All right, I will hand it over to uh excuse me, Director McMahon.

I see Mary walking up.

All right, heading it over to you about full stack.

As folks know, this is the as a preface before we do so.

This is obviously um being brought to us in part because as a reminder, this body allocated $350,000 towards the full stack work for this year, and as a part of our updates, we've also been hearing about this initiative.

Usually sometimes it gets rushed in during the budget cycle.

So I'm actually glad that we get to talk about it a little bit as its own entity and own work, really, as respect to the work that Miss Rick does continuously on this project.

So welcome, Ms.

Rick and I'll head over to Director McNe.

Thank you, Chair Commissioners.

Um thank you, Chair, for your your work with full stack and your involvement with full stack.

As you mentioned, we've had a lot of different program updates and learning more about the work done within HRA and PED, and so this is an opportunity to hear more about the Full Stack St.

Paul program.

So I'll turn it over to Mary Rick.

All right.

Excuse me.

Thank you, Chair Johnson, Director McMahon and Commissioners.

Um good afternoon.

Uh thank you for having me.

Mary Rick, Director of Business Development, PED staff lead for Full Stack St.

Paul.

Um, Chair Johnson uh just mentioned, requested a brief update today.

I know there are a couple other things on the agenda, but um wanted to take the chance to um share a little bit of a little bit of where we're we where we've been, um where we're at now, and a couple a couple hopefully helpful reminders too as we're going forward through this year.

Also, as intro, thank you to Kim Chung, who joined us today from the St.

Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, our partners in Full Stack St.

Paul.

And you can thank Kim for the fun little fidgets that you found at your places.

Okay.

So well, I'll just say it now.

So those were not everyone's got it in their hand, right?

Okay.

So those were made by a volunteer brand ambassador that Kim helped recruit, and we have started giving them away for free at events lately, and they have been so fun and popular.

So trying to bring some levity and a fun little engagement piece.

Is the brand ambassador here today?

What's that?

Because the brand ambassador here today.

No, they're not.

Well, shout out to them because apparently they're working.

Awesome.

Okay, so launched originally in 2017, this initiative has come a long ways.

We continue to emphasize the need for tech and innovation jobs and businesses across the city helping residents access high wage tech roles, activating our spaces, and advancing the narrative of St.

Paul.

Since the founding, we've successfully executed a mix of different initiatives, added more governance, stability, and built a solid platform for growth.

Full stack team members and the broader community have continuously leaned in and adapted during crises.

With some challenging years behind us, the tech community continues to leverage tech and innovation for the benefit of our community.

Most recently during Operation Metro Surge, Full Stack was even highlighting various innovators within our network, including Next, who put together a new website and tracker called Total Need that was tracking statewide business impacts, as well as Turn Signal, which has some connections to University of St.

Thomas, and they were providing on-demand immigration attorneys to drivers.

And now with the rapidly shifting AI landscape, we are proactively exploring the impacts on our workforce and how industries are changing.

You can see a few of the impact highlights here from over the years, and I'll call out a few other details specifically from last year.

In our community events, in 2025, Full Stack supported 16 different organizations with event sponsorships.

That led to a total of 41 sponsored events across the city and at least 15 or I'm sorry, 5,000 in-person attendees.

Most popular audiences for these events included small business audiences and startup audiences.

Most popular content included tech for small business, startup and innovator showcases, tech workforce content, as well as some industry focused areas in both Med and Health Tech and Clean Tech.

80% of our event producers reported strong or very strong engagement of historically underrepresented community members at their events, which has always been a goal of ours.

75% of event producers also said this sponsorship helped them provide business exposure for St.

Paul innovators.

Our storytelling work happens through a variety of different channels.

It's one of the key roles that the St.

Paul Area Chamber plays with Kim's support.

We use these channels to share resources, tell stories, highlight innovators.

Last year, our newsletter theme, our newsletter, by the way, is called News Stack.

If you haven't been following it, it's a monthly monthly email.

Last year we we had features on clean tech, responsible AI, Med and Health Tech, startup funding, inclusive events across the community, and workforce development.

As an average, our our socials, website, and newsletter, awareness has been growing by 30% through through follows and new active storytellers.

Our email subscribers have grown organically up to 1500, and we have over a thousand LinkedIn followers.

One quick story of a feature from last summer.

We featured AI's impact on Minnesota MedTech led by healthcare.mn.

We sponsored their event in St.

Paul.

We featured their work in a newsletter and on socials, and we're now in discussion for a larger event here in St.

Paul.

I thought an interesting quote from that feature from their leader, Dr.

Rashmi Kondwal, was that Minnesota is now at the forefront of a new era where artificial intelligence is transforming health care.

Fullstack serves as one of our front doors for business development.

Linking companies to local, regional, and statewide funding, as well as workforce resources, site ideas, and more.

Another example of the company connections, some of you may have heard of Flow Environmental.

They're a cutting-edge CO2 heat pump company that now has a demo and training site based at the local Steam Steam Fetters and Pipe Fitters.

We built a relationship with them through our Full Stack events and various clean tech partners.

And it's you know, it's been a great opportunity to both help connect with new companies and understand their needs going forward.

Current leadership, we have a great group of leaders with continued engagement.

Again, thank you to Chair Johnson for your continued your continued um work and role as a co-chair, also Commissioner Jost, for supporting on an interim basis over the over the winter period.

And it's been great to have Mayor Herr and Assistant Mayor Stumer Langer bringing really great energy and refreshed interest and industry focus areas as well.

Just a reminder on our our mission statement and our strategic focus areas for the year.

Our mission at Full Stack St.

Paul is to leverage the power of tech and innovation to drive sustainable equitable economic development in the city of St.

Paul.

From time to time, our strategic focus areas have shifted.

But we are we're continued this year to focus on inclusive building and inclusive tech culture, training and connecting and agile tech workforce, and launching tech-powered startups and entrepreneurs.

For the building and inclusive tech culture focus area, these are a few of the things that were focused on this year, amplifying the voices places and stories that make St.

Paul's Tech seem distinctive, reaching underrepresented founders and talent through partnerships, sponsoring continuing to sponsor community events.

We also want to produce a second annual innovation at the park event, and furthering plans for a larger signature innovation event.

I'll also note that we want to provide the reminder to you and residents that we have a rolling review of tech and innovation event sponsorship opportunities, and those requests can be put in at any time at Fullstack St.

Paul.com's website, the bottom of our events page.

Encourage you and residents to share content ideas as well, news stories, resources, success stories, and events in your ward.

And that can be you know sent to myself or or Kim, or also just put in at Fullstack St.

Paul.com on our news page.

We worked in partnership with St.

Paul Parks to put this on.

It was at it was at Rice Park last fall.

We put it together a little bit last minute, but we worked to coordinate with Mini Demo, who was putting on an event at the Ordway as well as Twin City Startup Week that was hosting events earlier that day.

So we had about 200 people at Rice Park and about 600 people across both of our collaborative events.

Great great experience and round one.

We had food and beverage vendors, family-friendly activations, some demos, and we're working to finalize a date and collaborations for this year.

So we'll definitely be sharing more and hope to keep building and would love your ideas and support as we go.

This year.

Sorry, Miss Rick, I see actually a question from Commissioner Yang.

Thanks, Chair Johnson.

Thank you, Chair Johnson.

Just a quick question.

It's a really great presentation so far.

I'm a huge fan of full stack, so I want to say thank you for the work.

I'm wondering, can you give examples of what sort of events?

Full stack, St.

Paul does sponsors.

Sure.

I have an idea of like what sort of organizations would be more suitable to share the information with directly.

Yeah, yeah.

So Twin City Startup Week that I mentioned was one that we've traditionally supported, networking events, educational events, startup showcases, business plan competitions, those are all different different types of events.

But I mentioned some of the popular content, AI for small business.

We've we've supported those types of events before.

The clean tech events and med tech events.

The one, you know, one mentioned was learning about AI for the med tech space.

So there's there's a range of different sizes, formats, but I'm happy to I'm happy to ideate with folks as well.

If you have an organization or a group that's been thinking about something that you know, how can we help you know advise and strengthen that?

Or you know, we end up recommending events sites and venues across the city as well.

Um, so happy to go further there.

Yeah, Chair Johnson Commissioner.

A couple of thought follow-ups, Chair Johnson.

Thank you for that information.

Do those events have to be in St.

Paul, and then on your website, does it specify what those requirements are so folks can easily look at them and see whether they would qualify for it then?

Yeah, it shows our basic criteria, you know, tech and innovation events with a priority for them, you know, being in person in St.

Paul, um, that's the basics, and then we have a simple grid that we have our team run through to make sure that we're prioritizing those dollars.

Um, but for the most part, we really try to make it work, and even if it's a if it's a lower dollar amount.

So yeah, please, again, happy to share more and um do whatever I can.

Thank you for letting us know, letting us know about it.

I will definitely share about it out.

Great.

Thank you, Commissioner.

All right, thank you, Commissioner.

Okay, into our tech workforce side.

Um, these are some of the activities that we're planning for this year.

Um, we continue to focus on real pathways to good tech jobs for St.

Paul residents in a very complex space where the labor market has changed dramatically in the last couple of years.

Um we continue to partner with workforce and training providers, understanding the tech job data, um, working on various survey survey tools with our partners over the over the past year, and engaging St.

Paul Tech employers about how their needs are shifting.

Um, in particular, we have launched uh St.

Paul Tech Employer Engagement Project with Ramsey County.

We work very closely with them.

We have a joint tech workforce subcommittee that we that we run together, and so we've been working through to put this project together to build build our employer relationships, um, to understand how AI is reshaping hiring and career pathways, and really work to align our our limited city and county resources as best as possible.

Um, the long-term goal here is really securing real job commitments, but as I said, in a um in a fast-moving space, we're trying to learn as much as we can.

So we are in the first phase of listening and connecting interviews.

So we've interviewed about six different companies right now.

We have a handful more to go in the next month or so, and then as we synthesize that information, um, we want that to help inform some of our recommendations going forward.

There's a few more slides about this project in the appendix as well.

Our last focus area here is um helping early stage entrepreneurs and small businesses start and scale in St.

Paul.

We are connecting founders to capital accelerators and service providers.

We are recommending sites and spaces, um, we are championing these founders and innovators at various events, and we're continually advocating and looking for additional resources.

We know that the HRA, the city, the county, collectively, we cannot help all of the entrepreneurs in this in this town alone.

But so constantly looking for additional opportunities to support this work.

And I would just then highlight this one quick snapshot of UEL.

UEL is a prime example of an incredible St.

Paul innovation asset that Full Stack supports and amplifies.

Over 20 years, and they're celebrating their 20-year anniversary this season.

They've supported over a hundred or they've supported 170 companies.

Those companies have raised 1.4 billion dollars and created 2,000 jobs.

That is an incredible, incredible asset for this city as we know build those startups, invest in those startups, and work to as they grow and expand outside of UEL as an incubator, help land and expand them here within the city.

So Full Stack's role specifically within that is helping to, you know, we've supported some of their convenings at UEL, the UEL showcase recently.

So through event sponsorship that bring investors, founders, and partners to St.

Paul through leadership presence and engagement.

We work to help get various leaders there that are valuable to UEL as an organization and the founders that are sitting within the within the incubator telling their story.

We just featured them in our news stack email that went out yesterday.

So talking about their work as well as some of the companies within the space.

And thank you sincerely for your continued support and investment.

Thank you, Ms.

Rick.

I see two questions from Commissioner Coleman.

We'll start with Commissioner Coleman and then go to Commissioner Neaker.

Thanks, Chair.

And thank you so much for this presentation.

It's all very exciting to hear and think about.

I had to step out at the top of this.

So if you already cover this, please don't feel like you need to reanswer it.

But I'm just curious.

I'm looking at the building and inclusive tech culture slide and about amplifying the voices, places, and stories that make St.

Paul's tech scene distinctive.

And I'm just curious, kind of top-level bullet points.

What how do you all at Full Stack talk about what makes our tech seem distinctive?

And as kind of ambassadors for the city and people who want to be bringing these jobs and this innovation into the city, I'm kind of looking for talking points.

Like what should we be saying and how do we show that St.

Paul is doing things differently here?

Yeah.

Yeah, um, Chair Johnson, uh, Commissioner Coleman, thank you for the question.

I think I think it's a great one.

And um, you know, overall, you know, we've we've leaned into storytelling of different kinds, and we want that storytelling to be very genuine.

We want it to be from voices in the community, and so I think um, you know, my suggestion and and advice is to look at like who are those leaders and stories that most genuinely represent something, you know, perhaps in your ward, but across the city, as representative.

UEL is one of those examples.

Um, you know, and I think it's it's also very fitting for us to talk about how St.

Paul is positioned as the capital city in Minnesota and looking at industry trends, tech trends, um, you know, the strongest tech industries across the state.

Um, so for example, when I'm talking about med tech and health tech, um, that includes our proximity and association with the Mayo Clinic.

Because people outside of Minnesota make that association.

So, you know, personally and and across the committee, you know, I think that is perfectly fair to talk about um St.

Paul as it relates to what else is happening across the region, what else is happening across the state, and how are we positioned as the capital city to be to be not only leading some of that work, engaging our, you know, healthcare partners, for example, shining a light on some of the folks that are that are strong here, Minatronics Medical, you know, is a company that is, you know, they're producing med tech products that are that are you know sent globally.

There are many things to be proud of.

I think, you know, just finding those that most, you know, that resonate and have a grounding of that that mix of kind of the industry and data strengths, as well as um, you know, what what you know residents um resonates the most and shows up perhaps in your wards, and I'm happy to help kind of craft those stories a little bit further too.

But um I will also just kind of briefly note that I think there's there is something powerful about coming through these various crises together, and that we've really had some incredible innovators and really incredible startups come together.

The story of what's what is happening in in downtown and Osborne 370 and the density of some of these new pockets is truly very exciting and very interesting, and people are looking to St.

Paul in different ways for for what we're doing, how we're coming together differently.

And um, you know, quite frankly, not all cities are talking about tech and innovation at a stage when it is very much part of the national conversation.

Thank you.

Commissioner Naker.

Thanks, Madam Chair.

Uh, thanks so much for the information, Mr.

I really appreciate all the hard work.

Um, I'm curious.

In the very first slide, you talked about how there were original, the original three-year goals from 2017 to 2020 were these four.

And I really like these goals because they're they're very outcomes-based.

They're not just about what we're doing, but they're about what are we trying to achieve through doing those things.

So 200,000 square feet of more commercial innovation-related space, 2,000 more tech jobs, etc.

It says here that those goals were achieved by 2020, which is great.

Um, now that it's 2026, what are our new goals?

Um, I saw each of the work areas, but I'm curious if we have similarly outcome-based goals that all of those areas are driving toward.

Chair Johnson, Commissioner Naker.

Um, I appreciate the question, and I know outcomes have always um, you know, always and often come up.

I I would say um, you know, I I mean, I think these are also very impressive original goals that uh some happened because of our influence as a city and full stack and advocacy, but it certainly didn't all come together wholly because of uh because of this the city alone.

Um but I raised those up and then the various initiatives that we've um you know that we've implemented in the in the years since because there have been various shifts.

There have been more emphasis on um on startups and innovation, there's been more emphasis on tech jobs, and the labor market has changed so significantly recently that it is difficult to to list some very specific and I think achievable goals for the tech workforce dollars right now, which is why we're doing more of that survey work, more of those interviews right now on the tech workforce side.

Um we had an RFP that a number of us worked on last year with some specific goals for training numbers and placements, um, and we just couldn't get um enough clarity behind it, given the shifts in the marketplace right now.

So in the tech workforce space, um we haven't been comfortable setting specific outcome goals yet, though I would say in the slide um in your appendix, um we note um we note for phase three.

Our hope is to have a hundred employer job commitments through those pathways, and so that is one of our, you know, one of our tech workforce goals again in partnership with with Ramsey County.

Um, and so training numbers, training certifications, um, the wage rates, those have always been things that we've we've uplifted through this work, certainly in the tech workforce side of it.

So that's that's what that's what I would share there.

And I would just otherwise say that I think, you know, highlighting the budget slide that we've been, you know, as uh kind of sensitive and responsible as we can be to the times, and so we're not um overspending in these areas where we don't have um a clear vision for those outcomes yet, and so hence my uh emphasis on recent impacts around community engagement and events and storytelling and the things that we're most active with this last year.

Thanks, Ms.

Rick.

And I I appreciate the difficulty of kind of pinning down something as complicated and ever changing as tech.

Um, but I do think you know, we're spending $350,000 not including staff time, and we are doing a lot of work, and I think it's um really it it's incumbent on us on the team to make sure that we know what we're driving at, and so to the extent that um as you're doing the surveying of employers or you know, maybe as strategic planning goes on.

I know chairs on the board.

Um, it it just it seems like when you starting with the slide that says you know, by 2020 we'd achieved all of those goals, and now we're doing all of these things.

It kind of begs the question okay.

So, what are the new goals?

And um, I know we have them, but I think maybe it's just a matter of trying to delve in and articulate them a little bit more clearly so that it's really um we know if we're succeeding, we know what else we need to do to get there.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

I think um one thing that would be really helpful.

So, for example, well, I think the increase that we had we had around the innovation event and competition and festival budget item the $50,000, like a report back on how that is going.

And I think when you look at this slide in particular, and I think it's really I know it was in the appendix, but it's actually a part of the discussion, I think, especially as it pertains to future investment, because we directly this body directly funds this item in totality.

Um, I think it's really important for folks to also understand like your tech training scholarships, like the internships, the entrance opportunities that have come from the item if there's spending or what challenges are being faced, especially for folks that maybe don't get a chance to be heavily invested in the um in the meetings that are ongoing.

So I almost would encourage you, Ms.

Rick, to look through your four items that are here on the budget.

Um they're pretty clear in what they were meant for, and I think just being able to come back, right?

We've had some steps as a body towards actuals and what that spending looks like, and we've also talked about things like programmatic reporting back and um in the broader budgetary conversation, and as it relates to like just 180,000 for tech training scholarships, placement support and tech internships, what does that look like and what how has that progressed over time in order to really understand just how many scholarships have been given, what placement support looks like, and in this industry, if we're even able to move on the and the internship piece, and if it's the answer is we aren't right now because the the industry is changing, it's being able to also inform us on that piece too.

I think it's gonna be really important because as I kind of share openly in the meetings, you know, it's like my background isn't in tech, and so being able to be a part of the the board has been informative in many ways, in part because like right, that's our brain, that's where where we stem from when it comes to our investments, including like things like our marketing and our communications, right?

Last year we kind of discovered just how that partnership really stems from that partnership with the St.

Paul Chamber, and so what things are we doing when it comes to just social media uplifting, newsletter work that warrants that $55,000 budget item.

And in addition, it's like the community events, like when we think about sponsorships, I love Commissioner Yang's question on the types of events, but I also know that you are in the circuit as well in the industry that has been working to fund and to support these events, and so even just seeing the events that we've supported thus far and we plan to and just where they are, um, really really important to understand the ecosystem that exists behind your work.

Um, and I think just like the where we are with the event competition and festivals are just like tangible as a almost like a continuation of this budget and tangible terms for us to be able to say this is the work that is moving forward, so it's not necessarily the broad vision goals, but just the tangible outcomes that have come from this investment because it was an increase from the prior year, and I just want to be able to justify that in the overall um story that's being told, even from the work that we're doing, as we continue to think about how we even market that to our partners that exist on full stack, right?

Because I think one of the slides there is mentioned just that the city can't do this alone, and it's an industrial ride conversation around the future of tech.

And it's honestly really interesting in many ways because of how innovative it is.

And I think when we talk about budgetary conversations, we're always gonna get in the weeds of what is being spent, what's not being spent, what the outcomes are.

So just kind of sharing that as feedback for you that I think would be really helpful to all of us to kind of see that the where it's going, even in terms with the change of dynamics, and I think it's actually just really informative for us to have that knowledge.

And I think for folks that maybe aren't in the room all the time in those discussions, we get a foresight view of like what what the investment is doing.

Chair Johnson, I I appreciate that.

Um I I would I would add um again, and I'm happy to come back with actuals at some point and a list of uh of the events and that you know the details on those.

Um the 180 to specifically speak to that, it has not been spent yet.

That is one of the areas where we want to be smart about the recommendations that we're making.

Um we are talking to Ramsey County about some opportunities.

Um we've been working, you know, um in partnership um uh with OTC and right track as well to explore different ways that um you know that each of our work could potentially be layered together.

So um we're we're trying to come up with a solution that we're ready um to really pitch and feel strongly about for that 180, but um, you know, a large bucket like that, um, and is as it's noted here, we did not spend it last year.

So and that did not roll over.

So um, you know, that was uh those those were some adjustments, and and I would note that there were staffing adjustments within PED that were made because of some of those shifts, including Annie Byrne, used to be spending more time on MSP tech hire, for example, and as you well know, she's um doing a great job with commercial corridors work right now.

So some of those shifts were were also naturally happening, but um, you know, I think we can absolutely lean into what what are some of those other outcome areas.

You know, I think as I framed up, um, you know, I think we could continue to improve, you know, how can how can we with with our chamber partners also share um the types of business connections, the types of leads that we're building from these events, and how does that connect to our BREA work, um, because I do think that that's uh a significant part of the the puzzle and and some of that presence.

Thank you.

Okay, so we are at time, but I do appreciate you know just being able to hear from you.

I um wanna make sure that the follow-ups are just codified and what we would love to see.

I think from all the commissioners and that report back and um do appreciate you making the time and the work that you're doing, and I have no doubt that um a lot of our partners as well are just very interested in going back in, like the engagement work that Ms.

Rick operates under is pretty incredible.

Um and so just wanted to be able to give that space and to provide an opportunity for you to come forward to the body.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Chair.

All right.

With that, we are adjourned.

The the the the the uh the the the uh