Evening, and welcome to the City of Falcon Heights regular meeting of the city council on Wednesday, 03/12/2025. We'll call this meeting to order at 07:02PM. Roll call. Gustafson. Here. Leahy. Here. Meyer. Here. Melke? Here. Wossenberg's out. Linehan? Here. And Johnson's here too. First would be approval of the agenda, which is amended, by elimination of the public hearing that was resolved so that we didn't have to do it. Right? Yes.
And, mayor, I wanna draw attention to the council too. We did have an addition today late today, item eight under the consent agenda. This is approval of a award for the pavement management projects tree removal contract. So, we'll kinda get to it at the consent agenda. I can talk a little bit more at that time. Yep. At that time. Okay. Yep. And then we just renumbered all the resolutions. Alright. Makes sense. Further discussion? Do I have a motion to, approve the agenda as amended? So moved. So moved by Meyer. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed,
same sign. Motion carries four o. Tonight, we have the pleasure of having our, a report from the office of our congresswoman, Betty McCollum. And, he's gonna give us an update on the fiscal year 2026 community project funding and other, things that are happening at the federal level that hit us all locally. Come on up. Thank you, mayor, council. I'm afraid the update on f y twenty twenty six community project funding is that there's not much of an update, but we're trying to bring everyone up to speed on what we do know.
So on behalf of congresswoman Betty McComb, thank you for allowing me to address the city council this evening. I'd like to briefly introduce myself. My name is Charlie Hammond, and I work in the congresswoman's Saint Paul office. Tonight I'm here in an outreach capacity. I've got a folder for you. It's got my contact information and some other information that I'll talk about. So today I'd like to oh, there's all some of that information, by the way. Constituent service guides, casework issue areas, nuts and bolts type of stuff. But I'm really here to focus, as you said, on community project funding.
Each of your members of the United States House and Senate can sponsor a limited number of one time funding requests for local community projects that do not fit easily within existing grant programs or appropriations requests. Unlike a regular federal grant application, which are submitted to federal agencies, cities can submit a project proposal directly to their federal legislators. Community project funding grants provide investment in a wide variety of projects such as housing, homelessness prevention, workforce training, public facilities, parks, resilience planning,
and other critical infrastructure and services. So included in the folder that I have for you is a complete list of all community projects sponsored by Congresswoman McCollum for Minnesota's Fourth Congressional District since FY '22. So we don't yet have official guidance from the House majority on whether community project funding will be available for FY 2026 or what those eligibility requirements will be. But in the interest of preparing our potential partners to apply for CPFs before those decisions are announced,
please see the information included in this packet. Congresswoman McCollum encourages applicants to submit proposals for projects that have strong demonstration of community support, are shovel ready, and are discrete single year projects. So also in the packet, you'll find guidance and a list of eligible federal accounts from the previous year, FY 2025. Again, we don't yet know the eligibility requirements for FY 2026, but it's the, you know, same speaker and same house majority.
They dictate those terms, so FY 2025 is the best we have to go on for the time being. So this is to sort of get you thinking about under what accounts your projects might fall. You have me as a resource. You have our entire office as a resource. Please reach out with questions, and we can discuss your prospective projects. And we wanna do this soon because once the 2026 application period is announced, it's gonna be like a mad dash. I think last year, there were some unusual circumstances,
and we had, like, a week and a half before announce between announcement and deadline. So this is getting materials together, getting those letters of support together, figuring out the eligibility, all that kind of stuff. So that's all for now. On behalf of the office of congresswoman Macomb, I thank you all for your time, and I'm also available for questions if you have any right now. Counsel have any questions? No. I just wrote down monarchs because I know Betty likes congresswoman dot com. Absolutely. We could do some more planning at our hearts. Great. Thank you, Charlie. Appreciate you taking the time and coming out and,
and meeting us with us. It's always good to have that intercooperation of all of our levels of government. So thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate it, mayor. Thank you, counsel. Thanks. Alright. The our next item of business is approval of our minutes from 02/12/2025, our city council meeting minutes. Any changes to those minutes or corrections or anything that hadn't been done before? No. Do I hear a motion to, pass the approval of the minutes of 02/12/2025?
So moved. So moved by Meyer. Further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. Motion carries four o. We We don't have a public hearing tonight. The business effort was, with the Department of Revenue was resolved by the, by the business, and we didn't have to act on the department's, request to hold that hearing. Our consent agenda tonight consists of eight items. We have general disbursements through 03/05/2025 of ninety seven thousand one hundred and forty eight
dollars and forty four cents, payroll through February twenty five of twenty seven thousand four hundred and seventy two dollars thirty nine cents, and wire payments through February 2525 of $17,206.17. Second is approval of resolution twenty five eighteen, selecting Cedar Forest as picnic shelter and restroom supplier for community park renovation project. Three, approval of resolution 25 dash 19, approving the joint powers agreement among members of the Ramsey County Geographic Information Systems user
group. Number four, approval of resolution twenty five twenty, accepting the resignation of Jared Mielehoff from the Environment Commission. Five is approval of Resolution 2,521, approving a contract with Electro Watchmen Incorporated for the installation of a LANLS2 net box access control system for City Hall 6, approval of resolution twenty five twenty two, authorizing the city to accept grant funds through the University of Minnesota Good Neighbor Fund.
And seven, approval of resolution twenty five twenty three, a request for proposal for classification and compensation study consultant. And number eight, approval of Resolution 20 five-twenty four, authorizing Husky Construction Incorporated to be awarded the 2025 pavement management project tree removal contract. The, being a consent agenda, I'll, I'll move the, move that and call for a vote, and then we can discuss it. Mayor Would that be isn't that the proper way to do it?
Or no, Mayor. If you if I may, could I step in before a vote just to Sure. Clarify just a couple of stuff. So just usually, yes. That would be the perfect way to do it. Just there's a couple items I wanna call with council attention. Again, things are kinda moving. I'll explain a little bit. Number two, approval of resolution twenty five eighteen, selecting Cedar Forest, picnic renovation shelter. On page 26, I forgot to mention this. We did update. We got the pricing today from the vendor. I had noted in my, packet that there were some items we were trying to get them to remove from the quote. One of which was full tiling of the bathrooms from floor to ceiling.
That's not required by code. Four feet was what we were looking for. They removed that from it, reduced that price from down 47,000, and added 6,000 additional for tiling up to four feet. So significant saving there. So you'll notice that the price now went from about close to $3.50 down to $3.13. So that's kind of a difference of that. So I wanted to call that to your attention because this is a revised version in your packet. Second, number eight, approval of resolution twenty five twenty four. The authorization for Husky construction. So as part of the PMP project for,
2025 up in Falcon Woods neighborhood, there's some stormwater improvements that are coming in some of the residential back areas. There's some tree removal that they're working with residents on. Originally, we had planned to hopefully get this to you at the next council meeting. We knew that we weren't getting pricing and everything updated till about now. But I'll call your attention to page 71 and the the RCA from Eric Hendrickson on this. One reason why we're bringing this kind of the last minute, and I do apologize for bringing it, is essentially we have to, comply with environmental regulations, including restrictions related to the northern long eared bat,
and endangered species, as part of our they've been identified in this area. We do have to remove all trees by the March as part of the environmental reg environmental regulations for that. So we're gonna be moving a little quicker than we thought. So we haven't awarded the contract for the PMP, but we do need to get these trees out, a little bit sooner than that. So, again, public works and engineering will work with residents just to notify them of that project and the trees that will need to be removed for that. How many trees? Let me see. I think it's on the quote. I gotta remember. It doesn't quite say on here. I'm get I know that I know it looks like it's great.
Hundred. Yeah. There's more than that, because usually it's about, you know, mobilization. So I think there's probably about five trees total is what I'm guessing based on that pricing. Is it a certain type of tree? No. More about location. I know that there was a large one as well, but I believe its location is primarily the, why they're being removed. And then they are these boulevard trees? Or No. They're primarily trees that are in our storm water easement. So kind of in the backyards of people on the southern part of Falcon Woods. Kinda where the the water problem is right now. Exactly.
So we're gonna go through there. It's quasi, private in the fact that it's kind of in their backyards, but we do have the utility easement over it. Sure. So that's always kind of the risk with whatever happens back there. Sometimes we do need to move that, and that includes removing some of those trees that are in our easement. Do you know why protecting this bat involves, like, increasing the timeline of tree removal? Just trying to make that make sense. Yeah. I think it has something to do with their nesting season and breeding seasons. Oh. So that if we we have to remove them by the March to kind of prevent, disrupting that so they don't try to to nest in the tree that you're gonna
remove. Correct. Yeah. I think so. I think so. Okay. Yep. I remember that being discussed during the, presentations when we were, looking at when they added that to the the discussions that the engineers were having with residents. Now I just hope they don't move into attics when they're looking further. There we go. The, so okay. That explains consent agenda on that. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign.
Motion carries four o. And, I'd like to thank, Jared Mailhoft from, for his service on the environment commission. And, it's always good to have good commissioners, and sometimes their, their life and their work, it's too busy to to continue on, with, with city stuff. Tonight's policy items have been addressed in the consent agenda on that new one there. And, information and announcements from, from counsel. Yes? Yep. Coming up on Monday, which is March 17. Some know that date is,
Saint Patrick's Day. It will be the next meeting or the first meeting of this year for the Community Engagement Commission. So that starts at 06:30 right here at City Hall, and we do have a couple openings on the Commission. So if anyone is interested, they can apply at city hall even through online. And I also encourage you, these are open meetings, so feel free to come and visit and check it out and say, you know, maybe this is something I wanna be a part of.
We'd love to have you come and visit. So that's it for me. Okay. Eric? No announcements. Okay. Paula? Sure. The Climate Action Team met last Thursday, and it was museum. And this is a time when we brought many of other organizations in and outside of Falcon Heights set well, primarily in Falcon Heights to help be part of the goal setting and, setting objectives. So it was Greenstep was there with Peter Lindstrom, U of M sustainability director, Capital Watershed, the state fair, Gibbs Farm, local business, Crocus Hill Acupuncture.
So there were just more voices to add to the development of the climate action plan. And then on Tuesday, attended the swearing in of our new, I'm with mayor, our new, county commissioner, Harrison McMurtry. Yep. That was a nice ceremony. Mhmm. He's he's a good orator, speaker, with a good message. The, and it's nice to have a have a commissioner on on there for the community now again. And, you know, keeping the the voice of the locals, going. Last week, when was last week?
Was that Thursday? Time flies when you're having fun. Council member Meyer, I and, administrator Linehan joined the League of Minnesota Cities at the, day at the hill. We got to, have a few minutes of of time with, representative Finke. She was gracious to, take a step before she had to go into the, chain council chambers to meet us down in the, in the luncheon. Gave up her lunchtime, and, we sat around and chatted about local local importance and things that's going on here and, had a very favorable meeting with her.
Then, following that later, we met with Lauderdale, Roseville, and Falcon Heights. We're able to meet with, Senator Claire Ottumbrunn. Umuverbaton. Umuverbaton. Me and names are starting to get away from me. But, and Senator Marty joined us, in the conversation as well and we got to kinda get a regional approach and we made our pitch for continuing local government aid and keeping that, that going. That was really good. So that's kinda what's going on and, for me, we've got a few things to plan for in the future. We've got our,
the sustainability fair coming up on April 24. Twenty '6. Twenty '6. And, so that's going on too. And administrator Linehan, what all of, is going on in the city that, you'd like to announce to those watching and those here. Yeah. Thank you, mayor and council. So just a couple updates. Officially on March 1, Saint Anthony Police, transitioned as our official police agency. So far, so good. Things are going really well. Had good dialogue with the officers. We had a coffee with a cop today at Amber Union. Good opportunity to engage with the residents of Amber Union and the police.
You know, really, really a nice event. The AARP tax aid appointments that we host here Thursdays, at City Hall are fully booked. So we are not taking appointments at this time. So getting a lot of calls from people looking for appointments, but that's, you know, something that's a nice service we're able to offer, help with. And then, couple of public works updates. So people will see the trucks, American Environmental is going through the city. They're re cleaning all the sewers. So kind of our program, we do a three year rotational program. One year, we do half the city, basically split from Snelling.
So we'll do West 1 Year, East the next year, and then the third year, we do a full city cleaning. And this is our full city cleaning year. So they're going through cleaning all the systems, and so that's going well. They televise all domains, get a lot of video footage, and let us know kind of areas we need to improve in the future for infrastructure updates. We also have Uppercut. They're going around trimming boulevard trees. Really good time right now with not a lot of growth yet. So people will see them out to, removing trees in the boulevard if they're needed, and also trimming trees as they go. And would they replace the tree?
I bet someone asked that a tree would have been replaced rather than trimmed. Yes. So we, uppercut wouldn't replace the tree. They remove it. Currently, the city, we've had the hiatus on replacing boulevard trees. Trying to get that program up and running this year. Some positive news with, you know, last, you know, approving the the good neighbor fund grant tonight, helping with kind of some tree replacement stuff. Others, we have more funding in the budget. So it's something we're working on, working on that plan, and how to do those replacements. But at this time, we're not fully doing a one for one immediate replacement.
But Should've known that answer. Yes. Okay. Yep. So hope hoping to hoping to get that going here soon. Cool. I've heard really good comments from residents on Saint Anthony policing. Someone said they next time they see when they're gonna run out and just wave their hands to say thank you. That was actually from our former mayor. So Yep. It it has been fun. The event at Amber Union this morning was was really nice. It was, I think that there were 10 representatives at least from the, police department that stopped by at various points during the hour.
And, then they all took a tour of the facility Nice. So that they could get to know what's going on. And, in talking to is it captain Humble? Is that Mhmm. Like and cap and captain Robert Schmart, the patrol guy, and then they're they've really enjoyed coming back to, to Saint Anthony. Push the squad a little bit, which they usually don't do. Yeah. Because they're the administrators. So, but it was fun for them to remember. Go, oh, yeah. I remember this and that and trying to keep it all going.
So I was this close to coming with the baby. But Yeah. Yeah. Glad it was a good event. Yep. It was fun. So anyway yeah. Very good. So at this time, we would open this up to community forum. Marissa, Georgia, anybody you wanna participate in community forum? Give you give you three minutes to talk about whatever you want. But anyway okay. We need to go to the You didn't let's see. We couldn't hear you. Well, yeah. We have to be so that, Alright. Georgiana May, fourteen seventy seven There you go.
Avenue. I just had a question. Yeah. Do you get do you guys know how big those grants can be from the McCollum office? From from At McCollum. McCollum's office? Yeah. The co community project Federal grants. Federal grants. Yeah. Don't know. I think sometimes they can I'm seeing some million dollar amount. I'm seeing some million yeah. Like, here's one for 3,000,000. Wondered if we might want One for two. Those, even if it's not too possible these days. But, anyway, if we wanna look at those for some of the goals of that climate action plan.
Just Yeah. Idea. Yeah. I I did see they they funded a geothermal heat pump system for Como in here, which is, like, over $2,000,000. So How much? 2,000,000. 2 point 2 or something like that? 2. Yep. Yep. It's be, pretty good system. Fire department, Shoreview, they've got $33,000,000 on that one that they had and 25 proposed. Don't know if they've come through yet, but that was what they had last year. Possibly we could have if there's a link for this online or we could have it at city hall.
Mhmm. Maybe she has a link already that we could just put online so people can access to see what's been funded in the last few years because that's what was presented today was a list of previous years. So Yeah. To give us ideas. Yeah. So Yeah. Good idea. Alright. The following this, this meeting we'll be meeting in a special workshop with the State Fair Task Force in a bit. But, at this point, thank you all for coming out, watching us on TV, and, giving up some of that beautiful sunshine that, started presenting itself on Sunday.
So anyway, in the evening. Morning's lost it, but anyway. Do I hear a motion to adjourn? So moved. So moved by Lee. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, same same. Motion carries four zero. Thank you very much. We are adjourned.