Good evening and welcome to the Rapids City Council meeting for Tuesday, June 17, 20125. We're going to be starting with the pledge, but when we first rise, if we could just take a moment to lift up um
John and Ivette Hoffman in thanksgiving that they're recovering and we and we lift them up for their continued recovery. And we just lift up the Hortman family um at at this time of extreme loss. So, we'll start with a moment of silence and then we'll do the
pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you. Uh, please call the role. Council member Griscoiaak here. Council member Butler here. Council member Novak. Council member Gisesler here. Council member Armstrong here. Council member Carlson here. Mayor Cook. I'm here. One absent. Novak. Thank you. Why
don't we adopt this evening's agenda? Motion to adopt the agenda, Mr. Mayor. Second. Motion by Carlson and a second by Gesler. Is there any discussion or corrections? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. And the agenda is adopted. And we're actually going to
start with the Rapids Women of Today. Um we're going to start with our presentation first. And and I will say that when you were calling the role, I was expecting a different voice. When you said council member Gesler, I went, "Oh, yeah.
The other one answer." Um, welcome back. Thank you very much. And I was saying I changed jobs and I've now joined this wonderful organization and I want um we're going to share a little bit about us today pretty quickly and then you'll get to meet us all and
we'll get our proclamation. Perfect. So, who are we? Um, we're a a big group right now. We're we had a good growth. Um, so we're at 27 members right now. All different members of the community. Um what we do is we volunteer. We
volunteer at times for charities and seminars. We do anything that we can to support our community, but we want to better ourselves and have fun at the same point in time. So I was going to share a little bit of the kinds of things that we do. We've supported ABC
food packing. Um we've done our parties. Um we did the chili challenge. Um we've done karaoke nights. We did a friendship cleanup. We helped pack period kits. We made tide blankets that went to the the
CRS needs closet. We did some outings at the conservatory. We helped with, you know, Alexander House. We support wildlife rehabilitation. You know, we had our police officers come and we got to meet Gizmo. Um, we
have a park in the city that we've adopted. And so we did our cleanup day. We worked on the hot chocolate 5K. We had an event where everybody got to learn floral arrangements. So it's it's service and and having fun.
But the big thing we want to share is on Saturday, July 12th, we are working with Hope for Youth. And this is the Pack the P pack the pantry summer challenge. We'll be at the Riverdale Village between 10:00 a.m. and 2 pm. So, it's
the parking lot that's kind of right by Vitamin Shop um kind of behind um the old J C Penney in front of Buffalo Wild Rings. So, right there on Main Street and want to be collecting food and hygiene items. And so if you go to
anything for hope for youth or if you look at our um Facebook post, you'll be able to see and we'd love to see people come and help us support and collect all of these donations. Okay, if you want to get engaged, you know, one of the things
that um I really thought was heartfelt from the Hortman kids were, you know, do something. And that's one of the key things that I love about this group is we do things for our community. So, we'd love to see people come and join us. Um,
we meet here at the civic center down by the main rooms um every it's the first Monday of the month. So, July 7th will be our next meeting. We start with a social hour and then have our meeting in our program. So, would love to see
people come and join us. And now we can get our proclamation so we can have Kunrap is women of today day. Awesome. Um the the pack the pantry coming up on July tw 12th. Is that is that like a drive-thru for people to make so they can just drive through and
drop off drive through drop things off. Yep. And then we'll be collecting them from their cars and then we'll pack everything up and bring it over to Hope for Youth. Awesome. So again, food and hygiene items will be collected. All right. Uh before we do the proclamation,
does anybody have any questions? All right. Then I'll come down out in front and whoever's coming up, I'll meet you in front of the deis. Come on, everybody. All right. I'll back up a little bit. A little more. There we go.
This is not your first day running that thing. A lot of proficiency there. All right. Well, I have a proclamation for the Rapids Women of Today Day. Whereas the Rapids Women of Today chartered as part of the Women of Today
and United States Women of Today chapter February 29th, 2016. And whereas women of today believe that through us great lessons can be learned, worthy deeds performed, and a hand of fellowship extended to millions of women
everywhere. And whereas the Minnesota women of today and the Rapids women of today are dedicated to actively promoting such public awareness and service programs such as Alexandra House, Hope for Youth, ACBC Food Shelf,
and Feed My Starving Children as well as participating in Snowflake Days. And whereas the Minnesota women of today and the Rapids women of today provide personal enrichment and leadership training for members of all ages and demographics through our belief in the
advancement through equity and inclusion. And now therefore, I, Jerry Cook, mayor of the city of Rapids, on behalf of the Rapids City Council, hereby proclaim June 17, 2025 to be Rapids Women of Today Day in
the City of Rapids. Proclaimed the 17th day of June 2025. You don't have a lot of your day left. You better get going. Am I giving that to you? All right. and then I'll let you introduce yourself.
Peter's always ready to go. So, hi, I'm Jenny Gistler. I'm Beth Clifford, Stacy Gross, Tammy Ninman, Jenny or Bethany Schwear, Lori Mush,
and Gian Wayne. All right. Is there anything else you want to share or did we cover all in the presentation? I think we covered it all, but we'd love to see everybody join us. So, all right. July 7th, come on over. July 7th is the meeting and July 12th is the Oh, you you
were going to correct her, weren't you? And July 12th is pack the pantry. You're welcome to be members as well. Yes. Oh, there you go. So, you can join. Well, I noticed when we had the chili competition, there was a guy handing out
the chili for you, and I thought, well, okay. Oh, her husband. All right. All right. Well, thank you very much then. Thank you. [Applause]
All right. Uh, next item on our agenda is to approve the minutes of the June 3rd meeting. Move approval. Second. Motion by Gesler and a second by Butler. Is there any discussion or corrections? Hearing none. All in favor signify by
saying I. I opposed. And that motion carries. Now I'm just going to get my uh sorry. And our consent agenda. We have five items on our consent agenda
and the first one is accept a right of entry agreement with the University Avenue Rental Town Homes LLC. Um the right of entry agreement will allow the city to enter onto the property for the purpose of maintaining the water main system including hydrant flushing and exercising of the gate
valves. Such an agreement is standard for a new multif family residential development. So, we're looking to accept the attached right of entry agreement with University Avenue Rental Town Homes LLC for the University Avenue Rental Town Homes Development.
Next item on the consent agenda is to adopt resolution 25-77 declaring participation with the Council on Local Results and Innovations State Performance Measurement Program. Uh, cities that choose to participate in the program in 2025 are eligible for a
reimbursement of 14 cents per capita from the state or approximately $8,900 for Rapids. Um, and the city has developed the materials necessary to participate in the program. And if the city's participation is approved by council, staff will submit the data for
the measures and the attached resolution to the office of the state auditor. And the state will also report, I'm sorry, the city will also report the data on the city website in order to comply with an additional program requirement. Uh, so we're looking to adopt resolution 25-77
declaring the city's participation with the council on local results and innovations performance measures program for 2025. The next item on our consent agenda, which is actually item five, is to approve the waiver of certain fees for
the Fourth of July celebration. Kunappers firecracker races, Kunaps Fire Relief Association, and the Kunapsiders Northstar Lions have requested waiver of the Carnival Fireworks display, Fourth of July parade, and 5K run and walk fees for the annual Fourth of July
celebration. Historically, these fees have been waved for this community event. Um, while the city's the clerk's office has the authority to issue the licenses, any fee adjustments must be approved by the council. So, we're looking to approve the waiver of the carnival fireworks display, Fourth of
July parade, and 5K runwalk license fees for the 2025 Fourth of July celebration. Uh, fourth item on our consent agenda is to receive the schedule of electronic payments. Uh, the staff has prepared the attached list of electronic payments
processed since the last council meeting. So, we're looking to receive the schedule of electronic payments from May 29th, 2025 to June 11th, 2025. And then
the fifth and final item on our consent agenda is to adopt resolution 25-79 calling for a public hearing to vacate the drainage and utility easements 10701 Butternut Street. On May 6, 2025, the
council approved the final plat to create a 34 unit rental town home project. In order to construct the town homes, the applicant is requesting the city vacate the entirety of the drainage and utility easements on the site. New drainage and utilities easements will be
dedicated on the University Avenue town homes plat. The staff requests the council adopt a resolution to begin the process of vacating the drainage and utility easements and a vacation petition may be initiated by the city council upon adoption of a resolution by
a four-fifths majority. Resolution 25-79 calls for a public hearing on July 5th, 2025 for council to even consider the vacation. So, we're looking to adopt resolution 25-79, which calls for a public hearing on July
15, 2025 for a vacation of drainage and utility easements. And that is our consent agenda. Mr. Mayor, Council Member Butler, I move we adopt the consent agenda as listed. Second. Motion by Butler and a second by Gesler. Is
there any discussion or questions on the consent agenda? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. And that motion carries. Next, um item
eight. Uh we're going we're going to be holding a public hearing for a grant application for the United States Department of Justice and consider anou with the city of Fidley and Anoka County. and uh Assistant Chief Jacobson is here. I think you're going to give us
the rundown on this. Yes, Mayor and Council. Thank you. Um again, like the past several years, we've been awarded funds from the Department of Justice through their justice assistance grant. Uh this is funding that we are able to use to buy um equipment items or different things that we don't normally
budget for. Um this grant was actually awarded to us at the end of last year and it's awarded by county. Um there's two agencies in Anoka County who received funding this year. Rapids and Fidley. Uh Fidley has declined the money in the past. However, this year we worked with Fidley um to write the
grant. So, we are both both agencies are actually getting a portion of the grant funding. Uh Rapids is uh we are getting our police department's getting $12,91. Uh and the city of Fidley is getting $11,370 for a total of $24,271
um is the total grant. Uh Rapids, we are acting as the fiscal agent for this grant. Uh we will be using our portion of the funding to replace all of the preliminary breath tests, uh the low roadside testing devices in all of the squad cars. Um some of our current ones are more than 20 years old. Um they're
starting to fall into disrepair. They're needing costly repairs. So we're we're going to use that uh money to replace all of those units with a newer model. Um so hopefully we don't have to send as many in for repairs. Uh Fidley is going to use the money to support their tactical medic program. um sending
people to training and then buying some startup equipment and supplies. Uh as a requirement of this grant, we are required to hold a public hearing on what we intend to use the money for. Um and then it requires theou with Anoka County and the city of Fidley even though Anoka County is not being awarded
any of the funds. Anybody have any questions? Mr. Mayor, Council Member Grisco. I just have a chief uh a question for Deputy Chief Jacobson and I remember last year when this came up it was Rapids and Fidley and we split about the same
amount. Do you know how why some years it's split and others it's not? For example, why didn't Fidley go last year but now they're part of it this year? How does that work? So Fidley has never been a part of it. We've always kind of taken Fidley's money. Um
that's what we have. Um, well, how can I put this delicately? Well, it's it's true. We um they had never applied for it in the past. Um, this year they happened to to apply for it. Um, and we applied for it as well. In speaking with our grant manager, we learned that only
one entity has to apply for it and kind of be the grant manager. Um, and because we have experience with it and they did not, um, we agreed to be the fiscal agent and kind of the grant manager this year. I'm hoping next year that they will take it on if the funding is still there and we we'll alternate years would
be my hope. Okay. Interesting. So they kind of saw best practice over here in Rapids is why are we doing that? It took about 10 years. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. That's all I have. All right. And nobody wants to know what they're going to do with the old ones. I think it's interesting. Are you going to sell them or what? Yeah, they'll go up on the
auction site and I'm sure smaller agencies will who don't who don't have the funding to buy them um will purchase them. Some still do have value so they will be um sold and the money will go back in the general fund. Very good. All right. Any other questions?
Some do want to let's see. All right. So, if there's no other questions, the first thing we do is we need to do then is hold a public hearing on the proposed JEG grant expenditures. So, we'll open the public hearing and if anybody is here to address council and the public
hearing on the proposed JAG grant expenditures. Anybody here for the public hearing on that? One more time on the public hearing for the JAG grant expenditures. We will close the public hearing and uh looks like uh should no changes
to the grant be proposed. So, we're looking to approve entering into anou. All right, Mr. Mayor. Council member Carlson with no grant uh changes the grant being proposed. I uh move to approve entering into anou with an oak county in the city of Fidley for the
United States Department of Justice grant. Second. Okay. A motion by Carlson and a second by Armstrong. Is there any further discussion on this? All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And that motion carries. And
absolutely no disrespect intended at all. Is it assistant chief or is it deputy chief? Uh deputy chief. Okay, I'm going to try and get that right next time. Sorry, deputy chief Jacobson. Thank you. I'm wondering, did I get it right? Yeah.
Yeah, you got it right. I got it wrong. All right. Um item nine is Come on. There we go. conduct a public hearing and consider resolution 25-78 authorizing the issuance of conduit
charter school lease revenue bonds. Um, Miss Hansen, you want to cover this one? I will, Mr. Mayor. Um, let's see. Uh so the city is um has been asked to be an issuer for con uh conduit
charter school revenue bond lease revenue bonds for um Alo leadership academy lo located in Brooklyn Park. Um so uh federal law and state statutes provide for a tool for certain um 501c3s
to have access to taxexempt financing by means of the city issuing that for them. Um, so we are asked to issue up to 26 million, most of which will be used to refinance an outstanding principal
amount from uh bonds issued in 2015 by the city of Brooklyn Park. And they're also looking to um finance deferred maintenance and improvement impro maintenance and improvements to the school facilities. Um the request was was originally made to the city of
Brooklyn Park, but they um do not have capacity this year as they are looking to meet their $10 million being qualified limit for for new issuances. Um we have not or we have room available in ours as we've only used about just
shy of 7.4 million this year. Um and the issuer is or the borrow is estimating that the amount of the new money will be less than that. Um so since this is a conduit issuance um these are not they do not become um outstanding bonds for
the city. They don't count against our legal debt mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar margin. Um they also do not have any impact on our credit rating. Um so we're council is asked to hold the public hearing on this and then uh approve the issuance. We do have representatives from Kout Rock is uh the
bond attorney on this as well as a representative from um Ethlo I believe here. So if you guys have any questions or would like them to speak on this, they're here for that. Okay, very good. Um any questions of Miss Hansen on this? Mr. Mayor, councl, I just want to be
clear on it. Miss Hansen, this actually a resident just asked me about this, not this particular one, but you know, asked me about us doing this. Um, no risk, no cost, just helping a another city out.
Correct. Correct. Um, we've had other charter schools in Rapids who had we had had approached us and we didn't have capacity before and so the last one was Northwest Passage, I believe, and the city of Champlain Park issued that. Um, so there's no risk to us. It's they're not it's not backed by the
general obligation of the city. Does not become an obligation for us. Doesn't impact our credit rating. And then we do get a small administrative fee for issuing it. So, um, it actually generates a little bit of unanticipated revenue for us. Thank you. Very good, Mr. Mayor. Council member
Butler. Yeah, I think just to build off of Council Member Carlson's point, I I did have residents reach out who were a little confused, you know, they they see Brooklyn Park and they say, "Wait a minute, we're we're Rapids." Um, but Miss Hansen did a great job walking through some of my questions that I had uh via email. And as she mentioned, it's
about $50,000 of additional revenue for the city. Nice. Yeah. And certainly this goes back and forth because I know years ago when Epiphany did some repairs on their senior apartments, I think it was um we didn't have any capacity and Champlain
carried that one for us, too. So, Mr. Mayor, very good. Council member Grisco, just a question for Miss Hansen. uh or or even the city and city administration, do we do we foresee any need in our city uh to issue these uh lease revenue conduit bonds for the
remainder of 2025? Uh Council Mayor Griskovak, we don't have any plans to issue anymore. No one else from our city has come to us. Okay. All right. Just wanted to make sure that we had the capacity for our own city. Glad to help Brooklyn Park.
All right. Any other questions? If there were no other questions and I will open the public hearing on um as we consider I'll open the public hearing as we consider resolution 25-78 authorizing the issuance of conduit
charter school lease revenue bonds. Is anybody here to address council for the public hearing for authorizing the issuance of conduit charter school lease revenue bonds? One more time on the public hearing. We'll close the public hearing.
Um, and we've got representatives here. Do you feel a need to come up and talk to us or do you think this is going the right direction right now? Mr. Mayor, I Well, you might as well. As long as you're here, you might as well come up and
introduce yourself and tell us what's going on. Hi, Mr. Mayor. I am Gina Freeni from the law firm of Coutrock. We're serving as bond counsel on this issue. I was just going to say that Ashley did such a great job and in answering questions and with her presentation, I don't have anything else to add. It's just important to remember
is already has been reiterated. This is not a pledge of the city's general obligation. You know, no tax dollars are being used for this. The bonds will solely be repaid by the borrower. The borrower there's a mortgage on the facility. They're pledging revenues from their their lease aid that charter schools get in order to repay the debt.
Doesn't count against the city's debt limit or impact the city's credit rating. So, Okay. Thank you. Thank you, council. What are your wishes? Mr. Mayor, council member Carl Kaisler. Sorry. I'll I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 25-78 authorizing the
issuance of conduit conduit charter school lease revenue bonds for the AOS leadership uh academy project Brooklyn Park under Minnesota statutes section 469.152 through 469.1655 approving related documents and taking
certain other actions with respect there too second motion by Gesler and second by Butler I think is there any further discussion on this. Mr. Mayor, just had a question. Will this is insuance go toward
our maximum for 2026? Even even we get a fresh reset the clock at 2026 again, even though these aren't paid back. Correct. Council members go. Yes. Uh the $10 million limit resets for the next. Got it. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. All
right. Any other discussion? We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And that motion carries. Um, next item on our agenda is item 10 to consider a development agreement with
University Avenue Rental Town Homes LLC. I think we're probably looking to put our easements back in here. Um, um, Mr. Patner back there. There you are. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. This is uh
one of the first of what we're hoping to be a standard development agreement going forward for larger residential and commercial projects. Um really what we're doing is just establishing the uh site improvements that the developer will need to put into the site, lighting, sidewalks, um utilities,
everything like that. and then establishing uh the requirement for a bond and letter of credit to ensure that if for whatever reason uh the project stops in the middle and the developer is unable unable to complete the project that the city can um use use those funds to complete the project and sort of
protect ourselves in that way. Um so this is just um likely to be the standard boilerplate language for for most of these types of developments going forward. Mr. Per, when do we put the util the the easements back in again? So the easements will be put back
on the property when the plat is recorded and that'll be at the same time as the uh resolution for the easement vacation is recorded. So within minutes after the old easements are uh officially vacated, the new easements will be established. Okay. Very good. All right. Anybody have any questions of
Mr. Pater on this? Mr. Mayor Council, I I see that this does include um development agreements for the sidewalk. One of my concerns with this was that that sidewalk is going to get narrow because of the turn lane there. Is that sidewalk are we allowing is it going to
be a standard width sidewalk when it's done? Council member Griscoiac, I believe the the width of the sidewalk will be standard uh across along University Avenue for the entire project. Okay, that was the only question I had. Mr. Per.
Yeah, go ahead. Mr. ambassador. Um just uh you said you mentioned you wanted this or that the city's perspecting this for other larger developments. Is there is there kind of a scale or size or is this basically MDR HDR developments or you know what what are you guys looking
forward on this? Thank you Commissioner Gistler. Yes, this would generally be for any development um that's considered a commercial development uh uh under building code. So any multif family residential development or commercial development. Um there are probably some examples of commercial developments or
commercial projects that are small enough that um engineering and public works staff might choose not to require development agreement but generally any major commercial or or multif family residential project. And then if I may uh the my followup to that is also um is
planning going to see these are these coming straight to council? Are these going to get to administrative at some point? Um just kind of curious what you look at since it's the first one. My understanding is that they will generally go straight to council. Um and
it is u you know required to be approved by council. So it's not something that would be able to be administrative. Maybe in the future we would include it on the consent agenda instead of as its own new business item, but it would just go straight to council. Excellent. Thank you. And you saw what happened. You skipped past me. So he called you
commissioner. I'm so used to saying commissioner Gesler. I just reverted back to my old job. So, it's a lot of old jobs today. Um, all right. So, I guess we are probably going to need a motion to approve the development agreement. Mr. Mayor, Council Member Butler, I move
that the council approve the development agreement with the University Avenue Rental Town Homes LLC. Second. Motion by Butler and a second by Gesler. Is there further discussion on this hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. Opposed? And that motion
carries. Item 11 is to consider resolution 25-75 amending the 2025 budget and and authorizing an interfund loan for boulevard tree removal. Mr. Stem. Sure.
Mayor and council. Um this is something that council spoke about last in September and August last year where we created a plan to address the rapidly declining ash trees in the city boulevards. Um this has been an issue related to emerald ashbor which is um an
invasive species that infects the tree and over time um the tree dies because it sort of loses its nutrients. This has been emerging in in Minnesota for some years and we have been addressing the problem through a special levy each year to remove and treat trees throughout the
city. However, in the last few years, the trees have declined very rapidly. And so this time last year or a little later than that, u we decided to pump some more money into our our EAB fund to remove ash trees in the boulevard. And we created a, you know, multi-year plan
that would help us accelerate the removal and then once the removal is complete, kind of turn our attention to replanting those trees. Um well the good news is our city forester Tommy Shabella has been able to make rapid progress since September of last year. Um to the point where he's getting near running
out of the allotted funds um that he had through both the levy and through the interfund loan that was approved in September. Um when we projected out last summer, we thought that the funds that we had um sort of created for him would last through this year, but he's really
six months ahead of schedule. It's not that they're more costly, it's just the contractor availability has been really good. So, he's just been sending them out to neighborhoods, removing trees and mass um and getting through things quicker. So, rather than asking Tommy to stop uh his progress, what we're asking
council to do tonight is to uh approve another interf loan of $550,000 that we believe in addition to the 2026 levy will allow Mr. Shabila to complete removal of the remaining U boulevard
trees. We have about 1,500,600 trees left to be removed. We started with 6,700 trees um maybe eight nine years ago when they were inventoried when this problem emerged. Um and we had a little over 3,000 when we spoke to you
last year. So about 1,600 left to go. We think these funds will get us through that 1,600. Then in 2027, we can use the established levy to turn our attention to replanting and additional beautifification um along our boulevard. So this should get us to the end. It
just gets us there a little quicker. We were anticipating an additional interfund loan as part of that multi-year plan last year. This is just maybe six months earlier than we had expected to need it. I think that's all good. Yeah. Mayor, council, if I may, actually, something that will probably come up on the next
council meeting or um maybe a subsequent one is we were notified this week that we're going to receive a grant from the state or med council. I forget which right now. I apologize. Um for replanting trees that were removed due to emerald ashbors, a $70,000 grant. Um
so it has to be specific to a neighborhood that meets certain criteria. Um and so Tommy's creating a package, if you will, for a specific neighborhood for those funds. Um so the good news for that neighborhood will be they'll see some replanting prior to um some of the other areas that have had
their trees removed already. But it'll just help us in the long run get those addressed now rather than two or three years from now. Excellent. Yeah. M council member Carlson, Mr. Stem Whittlele, how are we doing on replanting? It's uh Do we have
trees to replant? Yes. Uh, mayor and council member Carlson, the the funds that we have aotted for EAB related activities the last couple of years have predominantly gone towards removal because the trees are falling apart so quickly. If you're familiar with ash trees, once they become infected with
EAB, they become very brittle and branches just start falling down if you get a wind or a rain. Um, so frankly, they're dangerous. So, we have put a vast majority of our funds toward removal. There is some funding available for um replanting and treating trees.
There are a number of trees I can't um 886 trees that we're currently treating for EAB that are healthy right now and as long as we treat them every so often can remain healthy for quite a while. So it's not only removal, but 90% of the funds right now through 2026 will go
toward removal and then we can basically dedicate everything to either treatment or replanting. And so we should be able to catch up pretty quick. Thank you. Yeah. Other questions, Mr. Mayor? Council member Grisco, you actually kind of read my mind there. I
was wondering if there's any other communities either in the state or even federally that are getting federal or state dollars to handle this deal because it is so large. So, it's nice that we're getting a little bit coming on there. And I totally wholeheartedly support this. I mean, I think we all hear from our residents. Uh these are
just really eyes all over the city and you know during our our meeting here a couple weeks ago I mentioned how we want to just keep the city looking good. So I think this will help us clean that up. I do have a comment unrelated to the passage of this
particular item and I don't know if I should bring it up now or in other business but I'll just bring it up now to just because it's because it's related and I had a resident ask me about it and I thought it makes sense and I was just wondering could we use uh you know that homes for generation
program that that lowinterest loans for private owners if they wanted to remove their own tree because that's really expensive and some neighbors are saying by my neighbors got that big ugly tree and it's dropping in their yard and I can't afford to take it out. You know,
we've got that I guess it's the uh the city's H69,000 housing fund, the old mortgage assistance fund that we're doing those. Can we would it be possible to do finance low interest rate loans to people that just can't afford to get
that tree out of there? Something to think about. I know it's completely unrelated to this passage. So that's could could they use the uh what's the center for something? Who does our that environment and ECC? Yeah. Z
energy and environment. I think center for energy and environment because because they're the ones that control our or service. Yeah. Basically set up the loans. Mayor and council CE administers the loan program for us. It's our our dollars, our funding that
we give them the parameters for and they handle the applications and the repayments and things of that. But tree removal, would tree removal be eligible, you think, through that? Not currently. I don't believe it would be. Um, we've explored this on the surface level in in recent year or two. Council member
Carlson has mentioned this before. or it's something if council has interest, we probably have to dive into and really see what level of impact we could have because whatever number we could probably sustain within that fund. Um, you know, it might be difficult to know how far that would go if it is it a
grant program, is it a loan? Um, you know, how many of those can we give out and still sustain our other housing programs? Um, but so it's something we can explore. Uh, we just have to identify what that looks like and the terms and things of that nature. Yeah. But the budget process is coming up. So
perhaps it would be a good conversation to have this summer prior to August or during that timeline. Okay, there you go. Council member Gesler, if I if I may just add on that one, that might be a very interesting input from our sustainability commission if you know tree removal is a portion of
just general yard management, beautifification, and other things. I know we've looked at uh support for bee friendly lawns, pollinator friendly lawns, things like that. So if there's any way to extend or connect all of that together would be a interesting prospect
to come back with. All right. Now specific to this. Okay. Anybody have any other questions on this? Mr. Mayor, Council Member Carlson, make a motion to approve resolution 25-75 amending the 2025 budget and authorizing
an interfund loan for boulevard tree removal and related activities. Second. Motion by Carlson and a second by Armstrong. Is there any further discussion on this? All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And that motion carries. We are
to the open mic public comment portion of the meeting. Is anybody here to address council for open mic this evening? All right. I don't have any reports on previous open mics. And we are to
other business. Mr. Mayor, Council Member Butler. Uh, you know, I I know we had the moment of silence at the beginning, but I I did just want to take another minute just to uh acknowledge and appreciate the horrendous events from the weekend. I'm
very thankful for the city manager and the police chief for keeping us informed and for protecting our elected officials on this side of the river. You know, my my thoughts of course are with folks in Brooklyn Park and Champlain and with the Hoffmans and Hortman family. And then the last thing I was going to say is for
folks interested, there is going to be a vigil tomorrow night in downtown St. Paul at the Capitol for both the Hortmans and the Hoffman's. Starts at 8:00 p.m. and it goes till about 9:30. And again, it's you bring your candle, bring your thoughts and prayers. And it's a time for folks to be together
during a very difficult time for a lot of people. And um yeah, thank you. Absolutely. Yep. Absolutely horrific. You know, because these are not just our legislators. They these are our friends. We know these folks. We've served with
them for 12 years and some of us and and Yeah. shocking. Um, is there other business before we move to the 4th of July?
It's a tough segue. Yeah. Impossible segue. Yeah. Um, but we do have our Fourth of July. Is this because this is our last meeting, right? This is our third meeting. This is our third meeting. There'll be one just prior, but I think it makes sense
to get the word out now. We'll have one on um Tuesday the 1st or the Yeah, that doesn't give a lot of time. No, not much at all. Yeah. No. Okay. I thought I thought I had a handle on the dates here. Um so, our Fourth of July carnival starts on Wednesday, July 2nd. Um
there's a kind of a day of activities and then the the parade is at 6 pm Wednesday night, July 2nd. The all class reunion is from 5 to 10 that night. Um, bands all three nights. Car show
Thursday night or Thursday. And I think the police bags tournament is Friday, maybe. Why does everybody look for Tiffany and she's not here? She's home watching it on TV. Um, yeah, but there's lots lots going
on. And then of course culminating with the Fourth of July fireworks from the roof of fire station 3 on Friday night, July 4th. Did we say firefighter bingo? Firefighter bingo goes um all three
days. Yep. Is anyone running the 5K with me? I'm not running. I'm not running. We'll be walking. Or the kids sparkler dash maybe. You know, I' I'd have to set my coffee down, so I'm not going to do that.
All right. Um, uh, Mr. Mayor, call for Butler. I I realized, too, I forgot to mention, uh, there is summer in the city next week. Yes. Uh, so there will be summer in the city next Tuesday, June 24th, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. And it'll be at Lions Creek Park. That'll be
a big one. Um, or that should be a big one. Lions Creek Park. Yeah. our uh our last week at Thorp Park. Boy, that was beautiful night. The weather couldn't have been better. Good turnout. Good turnout. Ran out of ice cream. So, we're getting a lot more ice cream for Lions
Creek Park. Did you get ice cream, Chris? You're chuckling over. I I'm I'm chuckling because Chief Piper work works his tail off to get rid of all that ice cream every time. So, and and then just about the time he gets it all given away, then people come
flocking up and say, "Where's the ice cream?" Y All right. Um, oh, farmers markets, Wednesdays, June 18th through October 8th, 3 to 6:00 p.m. Um, June 18th,
tomorrow is the market kickoff and, uh, 16th is kids day. August 20th is senior day and September 24th is customer appreciation day. Otherwise, it is every Wednesday from 3 to 6 except for
probably July 2nd. I don't know if they'll do one the same over the carnival. I'm not sure. But Mr. Mayor, Council Bar, just a just a quick flashback. I don't know what it was, but when you said other business this time around, I was expecting to
hear former council member Gistler start going down the list of everything that was on. Yeah, she was good. She was good about having that all covered. Her replacement hasn't picked that up. I'm still not. All right. Any other business to come
before council this evening? Motion to adjurnn. Second. Motion by Carlson. Second by Butler to adjurnn. All in favor signify by saying I. I. We're adjourned.