Alright. Good evening, and welcome to the, special meeting of the City of Falcon Heights City Council on Monday, December 22, 2025. We'll call this meeting to order at 07:02PM. Roll call. Gustafsson, here. Leahy? Here. Meyer? Here. Melke? Here. Wossenberg is out. Linehan. Here. Alright. Do we have an approval of, any changes to tonight's agenda? None, Mayor. None. Hello, Jim. Okay. Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda?
So So moved. So moved by Meyer. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. And our next order would be a presentation. We don't have any at this point that we know. And, next is approval of minutes of the 10/23/2025 city council joint workshop meeting minutes with Saint Anthony City Council in Lauderdale City Council. The 11/12/2025 city council regular meeting minutes, and the 12/03/2025 city council workshop minutes.
Any changes? Yeah. Thank you, mayor and council. So we had, changes to the October 23 joint workshop. For that one, there was one spot where it said fir, f I r, and we changed that. That was supposed to say a different word that was not fir, so we caught that one after. And then, November 12, 2025, that one it's originally said that the meeting had been adjourned and it was, motioned instead. So at the beginning. At the beginning. One other comment in regards to the approval of the minutes. It does not state Lauderdale on the agenda.
I just noticed that. Let's just make that. I just gotta grab that one there. Lauderdale and Saint Anthony. Councils thereof. Yep. Those were all, all present. It is listed under others. It says City Of Lauderdale. I guess it has individuals, you're saying. Yeah. I didn't know if on the agenda it needed to be stated on there as well. Okay. Maybe not. I think I'm fine. Probably fine. Just seeing it in the attendance. In the attendance there. That's true. Okay. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the, the minutes as, corrected? So moved. So moved by Leahy.
All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. Motion carries four zero. Tonight we do have a public hearing. We have the consideration of amending the 2026 fee schedule ordinance to modify, the 2026 water and sewer rates, 2026 recycling rates, credit card minimum convenience fees, permit fees, and community garden fees. So we do have the public hearing tonight. Process is staff will provide a brief overview then we'll open the hearing to the
public. Each person may speak for up to five minutes on the hearing topic and four after all who wish to speak have done so, then we'll call to make certain everybody gets a chance to, speak, then we'll call for a motion to close the hearing by consent. So now and then later then we'd open it to, council members to have a discussion on the topic and, make it go that way. So administrator Linehan, can you provide a staff overview of the topic? Yeah. Thank you, mayor and council. So a little bit about tonight's fee schedule ordinance.
A couple different items the mayor mentioned during the introduction. First, we're setting our annual rates. So we do our rates for sanitary sewer, storm drainage, increasing by 25¢ per month on both of these. That gives about a 75¢ per quarter increase. This was included in the budget, made a formality tonight. So that's both for sanitary sewer and storm drainage. Our recycling fee, our tennis contract does go up, next year. And so this fee increase captures that increase of 50¢ a month, or essentially increasing to $17.25
a quarter. So this will be reflected on the residents' water bill rates. We're also changing our credit card processing fees. It's been kind of a year long process as we work on this, working through the different vendors. Payrock is who we've selected. We got better fees. They work with our all pay or sorry, our, I work permitting system. So we'll be able to pay for your permit at the same time you're getting it, which will be an improvement for that. Mhmm. Community garden fees. So we didn't list that in the fee schedule before, just including it to be a little more transparent in our city fees. And we are increasing the price, helping kind of invest in that fund.
We also took a look at all of our building, fees. We did this in 2022. Little Canada, who we use for our building official, they have increased their fees. They mirror the state rates. So at this time, we should also mirror the state rates, make sure that we're capturing our proper fees for all of our permits. So that's for the building permits. And it breaks down a little bit into the memo. You kinda see the various charges. Overall, most are fairly small increases just to capture our actual cost of doing business for those. So that's an overview of the topic. And after the public hearing is closed,
I'm happy to answer any questions on it. Okay. Well, at this time, I'll open the public hearing for all those who would wish to speak on the, topic of the 2026 fee schedule. I'll, call a second time for those wishing to speak on the topic of the 2026, fee schedule and call a third time. Seeing no one wishing Seeing that everybody who has wished to speak has done so, I'll then call for a motion to close the hearing by consent. Do I have a motion to close the hearing? So moved. So moved by Meyer.
Let's see. Keep checking for my little oops. Okay. So we'll do that by by consent. Now at this point, I'll open the floor for city council members to have a discussion on the topic of the 2026 fee schedules. Any comments, concerns from from counsel? None, Mayor. No concerns, just, recognizing, the community garden plot that we've had that for several years now and, you know, just the $5 increase per plot is, you know, very much due time as it has expanded and this city public works has done
a lot to, keep that flowing well for our residents, those using the facilities. Yeah. I like how our our fee structure is, designed really to just offset the cost of providing those various services. And, you know, we're not trying to make make extra bucks here, by charging fees. So I think it's well well designed and marginal increases, make sense as everything, you know, inflation and everything gets a little more expensive over 10. Okay. Thank you. Parting comments from our,
council members who have, participated the last four and eight years for, for that one. Do I have a motion to recommend approval of the 2026 fee schedule ordinance as presented? So moved. So moved by Leahy. Further discussion? Any? Hearing none, all those in favor of the 2026 fee schedule ordinance and its, subsequent summary ordinance signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries four-zero. Alright. We have consent agenda tonight consisting of
16. 16 items for, for those that don't have the, spot there. So our first, it consists Mayor? Yep. My apologies for the interruption. Can we do 15 items? My apologies for not catching earlier. Number 16, approval of public works purchase of Ford Lightning EV truck. We're actually gonna have to pull that. We just found out this afternoon. We're going back to the drawing board. We knew that the EV the Ford Lightning's been discontinued. Vendors said they had everything, and now they're they're pulling back a little bit. So we're gonna do a little bit more work on that before we do the update. Okay. So we won't have 16 has been taken off.
Okay? First, we have our general disbursements through December 17. Payroll through December 16 wire payments through December 16 Approval of city licenses is outlined in the, in the packet. The appointment of number three, appointment of Campbell Knutson as city attorney continuing in that role.
Four, appointment of Kelly and Lemons as City Prosecutor, continuing in that role. Five, appointment of creative planning as City Auditor, continuing in that role with the change of name of the organization. Six, appointment of Roseville Assistant City Engineer Eric Hendrickson as City Engineer, Falcon Heights. Seven, approval of the Northeast Youth and Family Services Cooperative Service Agreement for 2026. Eight, approval of the Tubman Legal Services Cooperative Agreement for twenty twenty six nine, approval to amend the flexible benefits plan for the 2026 IRS increase in maximum reimbursement
for dependent care flexible spending account 10, approval of Resolution 20 five-one 110, authorizing an agreement with The Hartford for employee long term disability coverage effective 01/01/2026. Number 11, the 2026 polling place agreement with Ramsey County elections. 12, approval of transfer of surplus funds from general fund to the U of M Les Polstead Golf Course Redevelopment Capital Fund. 13,
approval of 25, budget amendment, reduction of transfer from infrastructure fund four nineteen to the 2025 Pavement Management Program Capital Project Fund four twenty four. 14 is the notification of Social Security withholding change for elected officials. And 15 is approval of pay voucher number two to New Look Contracting Incorporated for the Community Park Improvement Project. I'll move the consent agenda. Being consent, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
Aye. All those opposed same sign which should be four-zero. Okay, next we'll move on to policy items then. We have before us the approval of resolution twenty five one eleven one hundred and eleven modifying the administrative manual section four personnel policy. I know this is kind of, has to be done, legal legal setup. Administrator Linehan, can you, explain that for the council in those listening at home. Yeah. Thank you, mayor and council. So originally, we did propose pretty straightforward changes to the personnel policy.
We knew we had to include Minnesota paid leave. So we had a plan for that, formally adopting it and putting into our personnel policy. And then we also knew that we had adopted our compensation and, class compensation plan back in our first meeting in December. Wanted to reference that as our system of pay and benefits. So both of those were planned in inclusions. We are adding one and I will apologize a bit. This is something that usually we'd wanna workshop a little, before we put it on here. However, you know, just due to sensitive timing, we did wanna include this as a as a proposal in the the personnel policy.
And it's how we calculate holiday hours and overtime. So for the city, we follow kind of the state's guidance on that for the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry standard. Holiday hours do not count towards hours worked. That is kind of the standard. Some municipalities and some organizations will bargain for that as a a benefit for their employees, and they will get that. Our our policy has been to not award that time towards comp time. So if you end up working five hours on a Saturday after Thanksgiving, for example,
you would not get time and a half under our policy for that because you did not work over forty hours. It's caused some issues with public works. Kind of have met with them, been working through them over the last couple of weeks. We have a couple of holidays coming up, namely, obviously, this week, and then also into New Year's, you know, Martin Luther King Day. So we have a lot of different holidays and our availability for plowing and support. I wanna make sure people are supported. And so, essentially, what we're proposing is that if it's a call out, if we worked with the city attorney on this,
if they get it's unavoidable. It's due to going out and doing something that takes them away from their planned life, that we would count that towards hours worked. And, again, kind of mirroring some other, organizations that do that for their, you know, for their collective bargaining agreements for their union public works employees. So that would be the proposal. The overall cost, again, this is the first time we've actually ran into it, in a couple of years, just with how the holidays have fallen. The overall cost is fairly minimal. We're not proposing to go and do back pay, and so that's something that we're not proposing to do,
but it would be moving forward. This is one of those, again, if the city council does wanna discuss this more, I have talked with the public works employees. They have some understanding of that. But that's kind of the proposal as we'd include in this language, and kinda have that option for them for that. So that's kind of the overview of what we're proposing. Again, it was supposed to be routine, but but we do wanna address this just with a couple of snow events and other stuff coming up just to make sure we have coverage. And not that they wouldn't, but just it helps give additional support to make sure that, you know, okay. They're,
you know, not going away on a holiday week or planning other leaves and other stuff too. It's a big sacrifice for them to kinda keep that and hold that. Right. And so this could be a recognition from the city too. A voluntary benefit doesn't have to be done, but, I think it would be appreciated by them. So Mhmm. Comments from council. Yeah. I'll admit that the way you're proposing that it it could work, and the change is how I assumed it already did work. So it was surprising to me, that, yeah, the the status quo is is what it is.
So I'm yeah, I'm support, I support the change. I mean, so part of it as well, just the commitment that they have to stay close in the area in case there's any situations where they need to do plowing or what have you. Mhmm. So because we kind of asked them over that all season long and, to do that over the holiday. I I think that this proposal is very fair and that's a nice it makes sense to me. Is is there, like, a proposed language in that I maybe missed in the Yeah.
Manual or what what page? Yes. Let me see. So it's 36, but so it'll be not the I don't know what corresponds to the packet page, but if you see that number kinda at the bottom of the Yep. Personal policy. Sorry. 30 four. 30 four. Yep. So if you yeah. So page one seventy seven Okay. Got it. For the full packet. Seven line here. So this is our overtime calculation. So and this is where it doesn't spell it out currently. And we really haven't had this happen historically. We've done plowing. Haven't done a lot of overtime for that. It was comp time. And And what the employees would do is they would just kind of flex their
schedules. Right? They come in, they work a weekend, and then they take off early. But, you know, kind of the departments change, the makeup's changed, and so a lot of the, people, you know, if they work a full week, they do kind of expect and are looking for that over time. And so that's been a little bit of that why it hasn't always historically been an issue and where it is kinda coming up into it now. And so what we it's item four, where we essentially we we remove our language about temporary part time. It's not really something that applies to us now, but just basically the vacation sick,
bereavement, or any type of leave does not count, towards the forty hours for overtime calculation. But then it does get into it a little bit about how it will be if it's approved by, the supervisor and or city administrator as unplanned. So this would not apply for a commission. So if there's a commission meeting on the week of a holiday, we can flex that schedule. Right? We can kinda plan out a month in advance and say, look. You got a a Monday night commission and a Wednesday holiday. Let's work your schedule around that this week. You can take off early on Friday. But it's the hard part of when you already kinda did your week,
you planned it out the holiday, and then you get called in. I think that was a little bit of the the frustration that they had. Just this last event, we had to work off the policy, but kind of offered as a as a consolation that we bring it up as something to look at. Look at the policy and make, make an adaptation going forward. Seems very fair. Agree. Yeah, you know especially since we don't have you know alternative staff for doing plowing, it takes that skilled with the special license for them to do it. It's not like like the parking the the ice rinks or where you can rotate people.
It's we need specific people to do these tasks. Okay. Alright. Do I have a, any further discussion? I know we've got the Minnesota paid leave, packet in here, which we have to adopt by the, within the nearest future, if not before the end of the year. And that's that's now part of the manual so that while we were making that mandatory kind of change, then we have this one in addition. So it's these two items. Yeah. And the paid leave we've budgeted for. So we have the funds budgeted,
ready to go. Same with the comp classic compensation plan that was part of our budget. And this this new proposal be incidental. You know? Again, you could have a really tough winter, really bad luck with a bunch of holidays. It's only this rare situation. The other thing I'll point out, it doesn't apply on holidays. So if they come in, our policy will stand as it is. If they come in on a holiday, they get their holiday pay plus time and a half. Right. So they kinda in in it's kinda double time and a half is what it's referred to usually. Mhmm. But it's this is only for their hours work.
So if it's kind of like around a holiday, that's where it gets kinda weird. So if they come in at night or on a weekend and the holiday was during the week, that's where it impacts. Mhmm. And so Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Do I have a motion to approve Resolution twenty five eleven, modifying the City of Falcon Heights Administrative Manual, Section four personnel policy with those changes? So moved. So moved by Meyer. Further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of resolution twenty five eleven signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign.
Motion carries four-zero. Next we have approval of or we're we have resolution 20 five-one 112 extending the state fair task force to 01/31/2026. Administrator, Linda Hanson. Thanks, mayor and council. So the city council created the state fair task force two point o, the second version, with resolution twenty four twelve. Originally, we set a sunset date, so kinda early twenty twenty four. The idea is it'd be about a eighteen month endeavor. We'd be done at the December.
The task force met last week, worked on this, continued to work through the packet, kind of those of you who've served on commissions or in workshops as we work on language and tweak it, it takes a lot of time. And so they requested as we kinda hit the the eleventh hour of the night and said, let's look at getting an extension for another month. One more meeting in January, their goal is to present at the January 28 city council meeting. So just a request to extend for another additional thirty days. Mhmm. Makes sense. Just have one question in regards to it.
It does make sense, but will it be a report or will it be a report plus recommendations? Just curious. Yeah. It's a report plus recommendations. Okay. So it's kind of their their stance as to kinda what to do for next steps of the paid parking program, what to do about some of those items that have been, you know, not addressed yet, such as commercial lot ordinances, and then also looking at kind of some of the final recommendations for what to do for paid parking, which I kinda mentioned already with that, which is how to how to implement, what should be done, actionable steps, etcetera. Okay. Okay. Are they are they providing recommendations on the future of the state fair task force
as well? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Alright. There are recommendations in there too about the task force and other, parts. And I guess kind of the spoiler recommendation would be that kind of either as needed or a couple times a year type of thing. So around around the events kind of the plan, but not a standing monthly group as part of the recommendation. Cool. Cool. Ultimately, it'd be up to the city council on how to On how to adjust Yeah. Or set that up. I think that's important because, those that made the commitment to be on the task force for them to have
a sunset time because there's there's always work that's gonna need to be done, and things like this, but it's helpful for them to see a start and end date as well. Yep. You didn't sign up for for life. Or whatever. Yep. All all an aisle. So it's kinda Yeah. It's been a lot of a lot of time and so I think we're we're ready and so supportive of that. That makes sense. But I think giving them an extra meeting to get her all settled is a great idea. Mhmm. Okay. Do I have a further comment? Motion to approve resolution 20 five-one 112 extending the State Fair Task Force to 01/31/2025.
So moved. So moved by Melkie. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. Motion carries four-zero. Information and announcements. I'll we have we have two members leaving us, after eight years of service and four years of service, and I wanna thank you both for for doing, stepping forward to work on behalf of the community these past years and, Melanie, for eight years of service to,
to the city as an elected official and twelve twenty before that. Whatever. Thank you. And I'll open that up. First, we'll we'll go years of service. I'll go last. I'll go last. You wanna go last? Or we'll go with information announcements, we'll turn over to council member Meyer. Or do you should we we'll do those, retirement, farewells. Do you have any reports from your commissions? Just that the task force had a long meeting last week. Yeah. K. The planning commission wisely decided to cancel tomorrow's meeting,
Christmas Eve Eve, so nothing there. Okay. Mhmm. CEC was very busy. Yeah. Yeah. So we had our Human Rights Day event, got partially snowed out, but information has been provided to the residents for, those that are interested in either volunteering or being recipients of food nonprofits. So then we're also looking at a date to actually go, to every meal. They've invited us to do a tour, so we're looking at a combination of a tour and volunteering,
and every meal's location is just in Roseville, nice and close. They've since purchased their building after being over there for a bit, so we're looking forward to that and then just worked on next year's calendar. So and goals. Administrator, we didn't have anything from the city. I don't have any, announcements that way. So Okay. For things happening in the city, then we'll we're gonna circle back to, circle back to our Circle back to retirement comments. Okay. Sounds good. So started off, the Les Bolston Golf Course, the U of M's RFP officially closed last Thursday.
So the university is gonna continue to kinda review those response in responses, start to determine the next steps. So more information will come out, likely till not after the holidays. Some other stuff too. So we're trying to get the ice rinks up and flooded. Weather is not permitting, and so they are, closed until we have some colder temperatures. They're gonna continue to keep flooding both the Grove Pleasure Rink and then also Curtis Fields, hockey more formal rink. Our community park's kind of on hold. Same thing with weather, though we did just get the electric, installed. Gotta start working on the inside, getting everything framed up inside the building,
and kinda continue on that. So once we get now that we have electric, we'll get heat in the building, and then they can do a lot more of the work. So we're excited for that. And, otherwise, we're just doing our end of the year stuff in finance, getting all of our reconciliations together, all of our final license inspections. And then we have a new administrative intern, kind of a communications focused intern starting in January. So candidate, we're just waiting for a successful background, and, they'll start, January. So excited for that to help us transition to the new website. That's all I have. And are people submitting,
photos for the photo contest, or is that ongoing for a period? Yes. I believe it's ongoing, and I believe we are getting photos. Okay. And so so. What was the deadline? I don't know. Sorry for you. I don't know. I don't remember the deadline for the photo contest. Yeah. I can check it, and I'll let you guys know. Okay. And, the submission ability to, submit your photos is right there on the website too for for the process. So if, anybody in the community has photos that they would like to share,
via the Falcon Heights website, please share them with, with our web designers and and with city hall. So it's, was what? December 31. December 31 is the deadline. Alright. So you have, you have another week and a half to pull it off. We're almost two weeks. Ten days from yesterday. Time is ticking. Yep. That'll be a, that'll be a Wednesday, a week from Wednesday. Okay? Statements to make after, four years of, serving on the city council with council member,
Eric Miller. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Well, first of all, what can I say? It's been an honor and a pleasure serving over these years. Got to work with and and know some, incredible, other public servants to our city. Just wanted to give a couple shout outs. You know, for my first couple of years, I was the council liaison to the Environment Commission and, had a really great experience working with with Beth and John there, and the rest of the gang. And then planning commission, Scott Wilson was,
yeah, he's great. It's too bad he, got termed out. It's wonderful working with him, Mike, Laura, Rick, and, Jim, of course. So, yeah, it was a pleasure working with all those folks. City's lucky to have so many great contributors. Yeah, it was awesome. Also working, you know, before council members, Wassenburg and Milke joined us two years ago, having Yakuza on the council, getting to work with him, Noam and Kaye as well, even though I didn't get to, seem like once once we got off of Zoom,
it's about the time where she was having more health issues. So I didn't get to know her as well as I would have liked. But, it was great, great working with, with those folks and getting to know them. Administrator Linehan, you made our, you make our job on the council much easier. You make us look good, because, the the staff, the team you've built, and the team themselves, do such a great job serving our city. And, yeah, we're we're lucky. Like, the first thing I did on the council was, you know, read read through all the job applicants and circle yours and put stars all around it. And that's one of the one of the better decisions,
our council has made, I think, in the last four years. So, yeah, well well done. And, yeah, I'll, I'll I'll miss you guys. This is I'm looking forward to spending, you know, the next few years as I have a toddler now, spending more time with her, watching her grow. And now that she can walk and attempt to, swan dive down every staircase in the house, have some more time and attention on on her. And, so that that'll be great. But what a what an amazing opportunity. And, yeah, if anybody's watching, thinking about serving,
join a commission, think about running for something, could be council in a couple of years or anything else. It's a great way to give back to the community and learn a lot in the process and make an impact. And, yeah, I'll be very thankful for the residents of Falcon Heights giving me an opportunity to do that. Thank you, Eric. Yeah. Thank you. And thank you for your years and your work. I've appreciated your being part of the team. Yeah. Being a team member. Yeah. And you've been a great I should've I didn't even I had all the callouts.
I didn't even mention, mention the mayor here, but, yeah, it's it's been awesome. Just, kind of having having you as a as a a pseudo mentor at at different times, you know, or, going up on the on the capital, talking to lawmakers and getting to know you a little bit better has been been great and really appreciated your leadership as well. Thanks. Thank you. I try to just be wallpaper. Council member Leahy, thank you for your service and, eight years. And I've really enjoyed our friendship from the time when we got to know each other on the, inclusion task force back in '17 when stepped up to help the community out.
And, your decision to join, I guess, I was in '16. Time time flies. But, anyway Yes. I'll turn the floor over to you. So, it's it's kind of a bittersweet. I've thoroughly enjoyed the the privilege and the honor of of serving on the city council, and who knew that moving into a city that thirty years ago I didn't know existed, even though a native of Minnesota that, talking to, Heather, who was the city administrator in our backyard about a fence going along our back property would lead towards me being part time staff and serving on a commission and
being a neighborhood liaison, which I'm really passionate about even to this day as Community Engagement Commission and, and then running for city council. And it's really been an honor. And, the list is long of of people to thank and just, you know, residents as a whole just for, trusting me to sit on the city council and the staff, all the staff, and we have some here, former staff, for just your work makes our job easier. We can't do it without staff. People think that we have offices here and we don't.
And just for all the council members and former mayor Peter Lindstrom and mayor Randy, yeah. We've gone through a lot. We've had trials and we've learned to triumph and I just really hope that going forward as a city that we can still be on that path of, loving our neighbors and caring for one another and learning to develop trust. And and there's those days where we just gotta practice forgiveness of ourselves and others and, keep growing together. Yeah. So this has been a great journey,
and, I'm just grateful to be a part of Falcon Heights and the fabric here. So thank you everyone. Thank you. We have prepared. Would you like to make a statement, Zach? Yeah, we'll open up community forum and I'm going to invite former administrator, Zach Thongvong to step up and participate. Thank you. Hopefully everyone can hear me okay. Mayor, City Council members, my name is Zach Thongvang. I am the I was a previous serving as the city administrator for Falcon Heights. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to council member
Melanie Leahy for her dedication to the community, her professionalism, and her consistent support for city staff during my tenure. I served as a city minister during one of the most difficult periods of time in Falcon Heights history, following the tragic shooting and death of Flanda Castile. It was a time when trust in government felt fragile and at times, in repairable. Yet through determination, persistence, and a collective commune- commitment to healing, there was hope. And Councilmember Melanie Leahy was a shining light during that period.
While the city received advice from many well intended individuals on what should be done and how council member Leahy stepped up to meet that challenge. She played an instrumental role in advancing several meaningful initiatives in rebuilding community support, which included the mirror of the mirror at Falcon Heights Elementary. And Jack, I don't know if you can feel the PowerPoint presentation or not. Yes. The remote over there. Oh. It fell asleep. I'll just oh, it gets over. Some of the initiatives in building the community support include the mural at the Falcon
Heights Elementary, the community forum and listening sessions, survey and service on the go, and cochairing the Falcon Heights task force along mayor, Randy Gustafson, which received the League of Minnesota City City of of Excellence Award, and participating in the think tank with the Culling Foundation along mayor Gustafson, Kathy Quick, from the University of Minnesota, John Thompson, a close friend of Flanagan Castillo, and I, to discuss the challenges and best practices of community policing. The Koehling Foundation is a nonpartisan research organization founded in 1927 that worked to inspire
and and connect individuals and organizations to advance inclusive and and thriving democracy. It's believed that all people belong and have the right to engage and to shape democracy that serve them. This was a reflection in the work of Melanie, championing in Falcon Heights. Through her leadership, Melanie, council member Melanie Leahy helped cultivate relationships, initiatives that will continue to benefit the city of Falcon Heights for years to come. She leads with compassion and generally cared for the community.
On a personal note, she, the council, and Falcon Heights resident made Falcon Heights feel like a second home to me. I wanted to deeply, gratefully for her service and thank her for her leadership. So these these big these pictures kind of bring me back to, the work that we did and the involvement and especially the dedication to the community of Falcon Heights, their commitment to, not only, address hard questions, but also to come together and work together and find a solution. So the picture in the left was the mural that we did,
cultivating a caring community for the elementary. The bottom right was the task force that we talk about in the work that we did, And the top right was listening sessions that we had. And then the top left was the Keling Federlink Foundation group that there was individuals from from views across the country that came together and had really deep discussion about, society and how we can change and be better. What I took out of that was a saying that I always tell people now
is just be nice. And then the next slide, this is the work that we did throughout the years. And, the picture on the top left is council member Leahy. We were kind of playing Frogger with survey on the go, and we're handing out surveys for people to take because one of the things that, Councilmember Lee always talked about how we were, we were really two cities. You know, we were the we were Falcon Heights with the residents, but then we were also the Falcon Heights that people drove through on Larpenter and Snelling.
And so one of the initiatives was trying to get feedback from people that weren't visiting Falcon Heights but driving through Falcon Heights. And then what resulted in that was when they took the survey, we were also able to secure two food trucks that came that if they took the survey, they got a free offering from the food truck. And the bottom left, again, it was the picture that when we accepted the word of city of the award for city of excellence. And then the other pictures are,
just pictures that we did some training and some discussion with cultivating a caring community. So I just wanted to thank Melanie for her work and, success in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Zach. Thank you so much. Great leadership during your tenure from, '15 through '21, 2015 to '22, just before as we came in at '23. And, thanks for coming back and recognize you were instrumental in making all of that happen. Alright. I appreciate working with everybody and working with the the residents. I I know it was a a tough time,
but everyone came together. They had a thoughtful discussion. And, you know, I wanted to thank the staff at that time. There was, many staff and the council members at that time. I mean, there was, Mayor Pete Lindstrom. There was Tony. There was Joe, Pam Harris. And then, yeah, and then the staff. I mean, the staff, the staff. I can't say enough about the staff. Yeah. There was a big there's a huge burden that was put on their shoulders and a lot of responsibility. And they fueled a lot of calls. I mean there was a lot of hateful calls that came in and they were able to take the calls and help out the callers.
And again, like I said before, it was a tough time, but from what I hear and from what I see from Falcon Heights and the work that continues to happen with the current council, it's just going to continue to be successful. Thank you. Good. Thank you, Zach. Anyone else for community forum? Well, we'll close community forum. Any, concluding remarks from council before we move on? Sure. Go ahead. Yeah. Real I mean, real quick. I'll keep working with you, Melanie and Eric. I'll knock you. Plenty. You know, I I just wanna appreciate how we've all worked together as a group.
But for both of you, one thing that I think that really stands out is you've always been so committed to service. I've never once doubted your commitment to the service of the residents, and you've kept that as kind of a key component, both of you. I'd say it's a strength of both of yours. You know, Eric just getting to know you, you know, similar age. We've kind of bonded over different stuff, so I've appreciated that. Appreciate getting to see Sonny and Sarah. You have a nice family, and I hope, hope that the Ruggles Path can give you a nice walking space to enjoy. I appreciate that.
Melanie, I just wanna say to you too, I I appreciate it in time of, so much turnover and instability that you were a a voice of stability. Little bit of kinda institutional knowledge for us, helping us through that. And then also, just sometimes when we'd have a tough meeting, you're really good at kind of cooling the temperature a bit in the room. So, you know, a public hearing that's a little heated, you'd usually, you know, give a start of a speech, and it would really take the temperature down a lot. I think that's a strength of yours as kind of a a mediator. And so I know you'll both have a long long,
you know, different careers or different nonprofit interests of yours, and you'll both be successful in that. And feel free to give us a call. We're here still at City Hall. You're always welcome. Thank you. Thanks. And I just say thanks and I'll see you in the neighborhoods. Yeah. For sure. Yep. Alright. Well, we have one final, item of business then. That's item k. I don't know who would like to to make that motion. I wanna thank everybody for well, okay. Just a minute. But before before I okay. Yeah. Because One, two, three. Great. So So So
Moved by Lee and Meyer. Oh, my gosh. Would be a, motion for adjournment. I wanna thank everybody for showing up tonight and for watching and for participating, and I wish you all a a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. And, so all those in favor of adjournment signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. The vote of four zero. This meeting, thank you much, is adjourned.