St. Paul Arts and Culture Commission meeting for Wednesday, May 7th, 2025. And staff leazison Jordan Layman, could you please take the role for us? Uh Tom Sonic here. Uh Carrie Neto here. Amanda Black uh is absent. Uh Sharon
Clark Williams here. Raquel stood is absent. Laura Strang here. Eliza Verma here. Ued Arosco Garcia is absent. And then Troy Woods here. Thank you, Jordan. And uh now we'll uh
take a look at the agenda here. And I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda as is unless anybody would like to change or add anything. I would like to move that we adopt the agenda as is. Tom would like to second that. Motion made by Carrie, second by Laura. All in favor
say I. I. Opposed. Agenda is adopted. All right. Approval of minutes. Everyone get a chance to take a look at the minutes from uh last month's meeting. If anybody have uh any discussion, any changes that you would like to make? Uh I just have one note on
section 8 reports from staff. Um it says both the 2024 event calendar and budget update were listed. I believe that's 2025. So, not a huge just a typo, but just wanted to make that note since it is a factual thing. Otherwise, uh love
your the summaries are great. Awesome job as always, Jordan. You write up the meetings, Jordan, or the minute meeting minutes. Okay, great. Doesn't she do a great job? Yeah. Yeah. It's varied over the years. I thought sometimes they have like a automated
system that did it or they'd have a third party. Yeah. wish. I bet you could do it pretty easily with AI. Oh, yeah. Record the meeting and summarize. I mean, those tools are out there already. That's what we do on Teams. It gives you a whole transcript and tells you the top points. Yeah.
Okay. With that uh change, I would like to move to approve. Thank you, Carrie. We got a motion from Carrie. Do we have a second? Second. Second from Laura. All those in favor say I. I. I. Two. Okay. over there. Yeah, we're
good. All right, minutes. Um, meeting open to the public. Don't have anybody from the public. We don't have any public hearings. So, commission business and action items. And we have an introduction, Mr. Ken Roberts. And, uh, Jordan, is this would you like to introduce Mr. Roberts here?
And uh, Ken Roberts, he is our new community development director. Ah, thank you. Thank you. Believe today. Don't applause yet. I was going to say sucker. We're just happy you're here. Believe today is
your eighth day. Eighth day. Wow. Did you find the snowman? That little one out by Highway 36. No, I I thought there was a thing where they make the new employees find a snowman. No. Okay. Sorry if I gave it away. Okay, never mind. Yeah, that's
tomorrow. I didn't get that memo. All right. Anyway, I'm here since Jordan is one of my fine staff people and I wanted to have you all see a face with a name and a name with a face and all that kind of thing.
Uh, I can tell you a little bit about me. Otherwise, I'm here for questions and observe a little bit. Then I'm leaving. So, anything you'd like to know or have questions about? Yeah. What brought you here? Why this job?
Well, okay. I I'll go a little well little little educational and work background. So, I have two degrees from the University of Minnesota, one in urban studies, and then a master's in public affairs. And I've worked as in local
government city planning for more than 25 years. First, actually, my first position was with the city of Maplewood for many years. Okay. And then I was community development director out in Mounds View for a stint. Then worked up in Chicago County and city of North
Branch as a planner. And then I moved over to the city of Lake Elmo. I was playing director there for about two and three/4ers years. And then most recently I was city planner up in Forest Lake for two and a half
years. Part So I here why now? A couple of reasons. I wanted to find a position where I could be a director again and help lead and supervise staff and those kind of things. So, this check that box. Uh, I live in Woodbury, so being closer
to home than Forest Lake was a plus. It wasn't the primary reason. and I had done a lot of land use zoning development review which is great but now with this position there's not much of that but doing a variety of other
things to help the city in whether it's rewriting ordinances or helping with the arts commission arts and culture or parks or whatever other kind of projects the the variety of the different things
was appealing so I put in my application and here I am. So, do you see that with this role that there would be some intersection with the Arts and Culture Commission or Parks and Wreck and and what might that look like? Do you think I'm going to say it depends and I don't
know yet. Okay. But I I'm I'm really kind of just drinking from the fire hose right now. Taking it all in. But Brian, the city manager, and I agree, thought it was important to at least come and introduce myself so you know. Yes, there really is a person in
that office now and working with Jordan. And actually, Jordan worked as an intern uh with me as in Forest Lake last summer. Before she came here, we we almost scared her off of public service last summer, but
she she did a we did a lot of code enforcement work, which is not one of the one of the least fun jobs in in our world. But, uh good for her. she found this job and so here I am.
Do you have any uh projects in mind that you would that you want to start off on? I mean, it doesn't necessarily have to affect us, but just the city in general. Did you have any particular thoughts that you came in thinking like, yeah, I'd really like to see this change or develop this or enhance that?
none that I I had no preconceived notions coming in and I I already had a meeting with the planning commission last week on Thursday and so I bounced a few ideas off of them that I heard from Brian the city manager and they gave me
some feedback some things. The one thing for sure is the uh design manual for the downtown area there's a for architectural control and that kind of thing is very outdated. It's 20 years old. Uh there are
buildings there that are no longer there and there's new buildings have been put up and I just was out walking around a little bit this evening before the meeting. I said really what? So and so there's a lot of work that can be done on that. It's not necessarily urgent, but it should be
attended to. There's I've been told there's parts of the zoning code itself that need updating that haven't been looked at in a long time. There will be so there will be projects like that. I foresee in not too distant future the city will have to update the city's
comprehensive plan that'll probably be a maybe starting in 2026 if not 2027. That's required by the metropolitan council. It has to be done by the end of 2028. So that takes usually 18 months to two years to
work through and all the boards and commissions will have input in that. Uh was also told by Brian that the attorney has concerns about C subdivision ordinance. So that I looked at it hasn't been updated since
1989. So there's probably some things there that need updating. Not that there's a lot of new subdivisions, but if there is, you want to make sure that your ordinances are up to date. Uh those are things on a real preliminary level.
I'll be going to the next plan commission with kind of a high level work plan of things I've identified from them and from others and seeing what they think. See if it makes sense. We'll take it from there.
Thank you. Certainly. Um, go ahead. No, go ahead. I was just going to ask if there are any other questions. Oh, uh, have you had a chance to uh tour the community center at all? Just from the outside. I have not been in it. I was in it many years ago. I worked at Maplewood, but not Yeah, not
recently. I see. I know that's a fun topic that'll be coming up. Yes, that'll be coming up. Challenging topic maybe. Any other questions? All right. Well, be kind to Jordan. Oh,
and uh we wish you great success in your role because that means great success for our city. Absolutely. I plan on delivering. Well, that's my goal. Great. Thank you all. Thank you for being appreciate you coming. Thanks.
Appreciate Okay. And then Jordan, I think there was some a wrinkle with the community craft project, right? So, we have to have red discussed that. Yes. So, I was talking about the bracelets with Sarah and she's like,
"Didn't we have a vendor that is doing like, you know, you make your own bracelet, right? So, in order to avoid having a similar competing experience with them, I think we should maybe move away from the bracelets. Um, Amanda emailed me today and she asked me to
communicate with you guys that she thinks that maybe just doing the felt coasters would be the best. Um, and then also she would like to know like what the commission thinks how many um how many projects or people we should prepare for or like buy materials for,
if that makes sense. Um. Mhm. Yeah. How many tiles did we have for the uh the project last year? Does anyone remember? 100. 100. Okay. That seemed like a reasonable amount. Yeah. That was a very
easy project. Yeah. They didn't have to learn anything. It was come in do whatever you want. Yeah. Whereas uh Coaster, they're going to have to be educated, I think, a little bit on how to do it. So, I don't know if that
would increase or decrease the number of people who would want to participate. I think it's a good gauge though. Around 100. Yeah. Yeah. Around 100 and then we're fine with just doing the coasters. I'm happy with whatever Amanda decides.
I I appreciate her leadership and guidance and I don't need to micromanage what the final project is. Sweet. Well, that works for me. Okay. Well, that brings us on to subcommittee updates. So, let's take
um public art projects. Uh Laura or Carrie, is there any update on this one? Oh my god. Yeah. Oh, great. We have lots. Oh, wow. You want to start? Sure. Okay. So, um we've been working on the kind of take home your
own snowy like a yard sign. Um so, Cal is working on um she's gotten some quotes. Carrie, you got a quote. Um I reached out to a company called Wood from the Hood. They do reclaimed wood um projects as well as you know plywood.
And so I got quotes back from Kelly there. And for a halfinch thick outdoor plywood, which is the most cost effective with two metal rods to stake them into the ground, around 24 in by 30 in for our snowman would be about $50 each.
And um she also gave me the reclaimed wood price just because I wanted to know, you know, for environmental reasons. And that would be about 500 each. So we won't do that. But it was nice to know. So um but then
Carrie, you got a quote for um those yard signs as well. Yeah. And it was way less than and of course I can't remember what she told me, but it was like a thousand or something, I think she said. Yeah. Is that right? And that just wouldn't have the stake. So, we'd have to add that, right, to actually stick it
into the ground. Cuz that's just the wood. I think that's just the wood, but that would have arms that dangle out. Okay. Um, and then Raquel got one, too. And I can't remember what her estimate was. The Kalisota girl, she had 18 by 23
for a quantity of 175 would be about $21 each. So that about um 36.75 total um for hers which is um a little smaller and doesn't have the stakes in it as well. So if that's just something that
we could then add later I don't know that cost separately. Yeah. And what was that one made order of that required that? Um I I believe plywood as well. Yeah. She hadn't gotten the plastic quote back. Yeah. Um that something plastic and concrete she was looking at
as well. So, we were hoping to just use half of our budget for this project because we had another We kind of wanted to do a couple of things. Yes. The other thing is um we had talked about and Troy, you had talked about last month as well, the stamp in the sidewalks. So, I've been working on what would we use
for the stamp. Um so, I did some research and it looks like making a urethane rubber um stamp would be best um and last the longest. So, I reached out to Ron Richie at public works. He has stamped concrete with forms that
have been purchased already, but he's never used one that was made. So, he's also going to look into that. Um, and then we will collaborate on what that looks like. I printed some information on how to do it ourselves because we're very crafty people. Um, and for like a
kit of all the things we would need, it's about $190. But I'll wait to hear from Ron. Um, and I was thinking maybe about six inches. Like I want it to be small. I want it to create like that um hidden snowy like a hidden Mickey situation where they have to like go and find it.
Yeah. Small but cute. And that's what we're looking at for that. Um, go ahead. I've talked to Morgan, our city engineer, about that. And with the construction that's going on up by Casey Lake, I don't remember the
names of the streets that are um but basically he said that if we talk to the construction the company that's doing the work and say we have a stamp put this on you know the corners or wherever he said they could
absolutely do it. Awesome. So yeah. Okay. Yeah, that'd be the way to do it. Just coordinate with those projects, you know. Perfect. Yeah. So, our hope is to have kind of these, you know, that's going to be kind of a long-term thing that we do kind of throughout. So, we have these little secret snowies popping
out as updates happen and new construction happens. And then the bring snowy home, we're hoping to do um a launch uh along with National Night Out on August 5th. So having a table along with the firehouse and um having the
snowies ready and available then um we want to include some materials from the art cart. So I know Raquel is going to work with Amanda on getting some materials from the art cart. I went to the Ramsey County Recycling Center this weekend and got 20 cans of paint so we have some paint ready so we can do some
because the whole point is to you know you are the artist. You can show off your culture and show off what you want your snowy to be outside your house. So, um, yeah, I think that's it. And so, that is we I think we talked about that. So, would it be like at the national night out thing people would have an
opportunity to do some painting there like be like a community? Yeah, you can take it home and do it or you can do it there or get started and take it home or So, is there a national night out like kind of a like there'd be some
central location for that or what? What? It's the fire station. At the fire station. Okay. They usually have in case you don't in case someone in the community doesn't have a celebration going on near them, they always host something there. So people can come. So we thought we could just kind of glom
onto that and we reached out to Ava this week and she was a okay with it and wants to start promoting it which it was very well intended last year because we went just for Oh, good. Yeah. Um so and I did check so wood from the hood at least can have them all done by by then before then so that we could be
promoting it. That's fantastic. Great. So, we'll keep plugging away. That's great. Um, murals. Sharon, do you do you want to cover this one or Carrie? Oh, we can tag team. Yes. Perfect. We
are making progress and I think it is so exciting. The call for artists has gone out. We have had several strong responses which I'm every time we get one I'm just like thrilled. So thank you if you're watching. Um we really
appreciate that participation in our community. We are um moving forward and are going to collaborate with the historical society um in a few weeks and have a get a more pinpoint discussion of which kind of mural we want to go with
and how everything is going to transpire. So I can't tell you all the details tonight because we have not met yet, but it is rolling and it's I don't know. I find it very exciting when any of our projects go from us just
discussing it here to it's actually I can see that this is going to happen now. So yes, the historical society is going to get a mural and I'm excited. So you can fill in all the parts that I've missed. It's kind of like it's almost like we this is our art project,
you know, like you think about artists putting out their art into the world like this is our putting it out into the world anyway. So, um, 5:19 is our deadline for artists. Shortan has been doing a great job responding to artists and keeping our little spreadsheet updated. We've had 14 responses so far.
We don't know that all of them will apply, but that's 14 people who have reached out with questions and told us they would like more money, some of them, but um, and then 528 we're going to have our meeting and we hope to notify the artist by June 6th, if not before. So, fingers crossed we can all
agree on one person and wonderful. Move ahead with that. Yeah, it's pretty neat. And we're talking about doing that whole what? What is it? The sort of the west facing side of the building, which I think the historical society was originally even
just thinking it would be just that one wall, but then it it jogs over where there's kind of a southish facing wall and then another sort of west facing wall. So, we'll do both of those west facing walls and then that south one just have it be kind of a a
complimentary solid color. You know, we're just saying, "Hey, we we'll paint that, too, but it'll be you don't have to put a design on that." So, I think it'll be it'll be interesting. And, you know, it's it's always interesting, too, when you put something out like that and get the feedback um from all these
artists. You know, one who said it wasn't enough money was uh Adam Turman, which is not surprising. I'm surprised they even responded at all, you know. So, he had his people respond for him, I guess, or something. But, um, but we're really weren't that far off from having
someone like that doing the murals. So, I think that was pretty neat, too. So, um, but yeah, so that's going to be exciting because it'll be highly visible anchoring that end of town. Um, it' be pretty neat. I think we got to plan the
next one. Yeah, I know. Keep them coming. We got to keep looking for uh for customers, people that want to do that. I happened to talk with a North St. Paul resident I hadn't seen in a long time over the weekend and uh I I
I mentioned the arts commission and he and his wife said, "Yeah, we should we should have murals all over the place. We should be doing more of that kind of stuff." I'm like, "We're working on it, man." So, I think people like it. I do.
I've received a lot of positive feedback about what we've been doing. Yeah. Great. Okay. Um, anything else you can think of about this? So, May 28th, we're meeting with some representatives from the historical society hopefully to be
able to move forward utility boxes. Well, we have been blown away with that. I will start with the veterans one. Um Jordan and I are going to meet tomorrow and we are going to get the
call for artists out. We're broadening the scope of artists. I've gotten more input from the actual uh board for the Veterans Park. So, a few more ideas have rolled in that they said, "Well, just should adjust it and see if anybody is interested in doing something with these
ideas." So, we're going to roll that in there. Just send it over to a wide uh group of artists. Um I haven't talked about this with Jordan, so I'm going to just like throw this in here. I I'd like to see this on the city website just the
same as we've done for the mural. Um as many of you know, I am a military family. We are part of many military organizations. So, we're hoping to send a link out to the people that we know to expand it within the military veteran
community to see what kind of feedback we get. And once again, I am very excited. I can't believe I feel like I've been talking about this for eight months and trying to formulate an idea and a consensus and we are a hair's
breath away. That's so exciting. Yay. Um, I do have one question I wanted to ask. Did anyone remember the process in which like the art was digitized and then given to our vendor to wrap? Because I was asking Sarah. She wasn't very sure. I don't know if any of you
guys weren't those. Oh, you remember? Yeah, I have a contact. I mean, we probably have the same contact, but they essentially have like a Dropbox that they send you that like link and then you put the art in there and then if they need to, you know, fine-tune it or
edit as they go, then they'll have it already and let you know. But as long as it's a high enough quality. Yeah. They take it in either Adobe Illustrator, a PDF, a JPEG, or vector file. And these are artists, so I would assume they
would know what those terms mean. And I I was going to be more it wasn't in our call for artists because I figured like we'll worry about it when we find somebody comes out with a design, then we will find a way to get that in the right format. Even if I have to go out and photograph it, we will get it in the
right format and get it over to the company to produce it. The other one is our heart hands project. So, these are all separate individual heart hands. My printer gave up, but I will pass. You can see um I
love all the different hands. Um you know, different ethnicities and ages color too. And I cuz I I was thinking that this was going to be like all white background or something. So originally I had done bright. I know my printer was stupid. Um but I had done bright and
then C wanted to see it kind of more simplified and so I changed it with the white background but it just wasn't as punchy and we wanted it to be fun. It's across from a park. Um, but it's a very large box. So, I did seven because in my thought process, and I'll work with the
utility box people, is that we'd have like two on one side, one on the top, one in one, and so perfect. Yeah, that. But, um, but there's just the different ages and the babies and I mean, it's just there's so much love. They're so great. It just makes me
so happy. I know. So cute. This one is one of my all-time favorites. I love that one. I remember that one. So special. Me, too. I totally I loved taking the pictures of the lady hands. And Sharon just got the best
photo. I mean I mean it just speaks volumes about our community and how much love is really around us all the time. And it's so Yeah. And um for those who are wondering, I did not require perfection in making a heart. I thought
that what made it so that makes it special. Yes. And and everybody made the heart any way they could imagine it. And I I think you can see their visualization and the effort that some of them are really struggling to think
how am I going to use my handationally different parts depending on their age group and yes I love that that you were able to get the group of of teens with the three hands in one photo. I love that I love that moment. They were so
excited. Uh it was just beautiful moment. It was just a beautiful moment interacting with the community. I I loved it. So hopefully we can continue to come up with uh unique ideas to um and we have so we yeah we've done some brainstorming on like what kind of
projects we could do to include the community for art in the future to wrap um including like a North St. Paul family tree where we have them all like sign leaves. We put it on a tree, take a picture of that and then wrap. So we have the signatures of all of our
residents. Interesting. Aren't those just those people just wonderful? That's so just was like Jordan, we should add this to the city's you know, Ava redid the website. We should have this as part of the slash the warm fuzzy. I can Yeah, I
can bring it up. Right. Yeah, I think so. And I can send you the images. Yeah. Yeah. And there are more images. I think I have 400 images. Yes. That's incredible. That's a lot. So, yes. And which I will get to you because they
belong to the city. But I just was keeping them just in case something happened before we get this wrapped up any you never know. Infections, viruses. I I didn't know. But yeah, I have them in safekeeping and I will get them to you.
Sounds good. So that's fantastic. So, and with our turnaround, which is usually four to six weeks to wrap, um, it should be done this summer and across from our park. So, yay. Awesome. Great. Yeah, that looks really great. I like the big bold colors behind those. I
love it. Beautiful job. Beautiful. Um, art cart. So, we have an art cart coming up. The first is that that's not the first car show or is it June 14th? Is it the very first one? Okay. Yes, I believe. Yeah. Great. I think both. It's
not the first car show, but it'll be the first one we'll be at. First one. That's Oh, that's Yeah. What date does the car show start? Is it the seventh or? Yeah, it's usually around the 7th. Yeah. First Friday of June. Yeah.
So, this would be the second one. Yeah. Yeah. Great. And so, everybody got that on their calendar? Um, anything else with the art cart? We don't have Amanda or Raquel here, but what is our do we have a planned
activity for that one? That's a great question for Amanda or Raquel. I'm sorry. I might have a meeting to organize. They're going to go in and but yeah. Well, and then we have we do have another meeting before then. So, yeah. Feel like that they it's needed what it
was and I don't recall what it is. Yeah, they might have had it figured out already. Um Okay. Um, art night. Great time at art night. Um, Eliza and Amanda came to help set up. Eliza did a
pot with me. Oh, I I gave my pot to my mom, so I couldn't bring it. Oh, no. But we had a great time. We painted terracotta pots. I did tulips and all kinds of different techniques for using the brush to make different types of flowers. And people seem to really like it. We got some good feedback. M um and
then Eliza's going to handle the next one next this month, next week, right? Mhm. Yep. Exciting. It's going to be candle making, so it's going to be very fun. And so when is the um May 15th, thank you. I was like the 14th and I'm
like, no, no, no. So yeah, the 15th. Can I ask what kind of journal we had for the first one? We were at capacity. Was it 16 people? 15. Okay. I believe the candle making is already sold out, so we're already up. Yeah. So, they're very popular. So, very exciting. And I love
how they're listed on the website. I think it's it's really I don't know if you did that or Ava did that, but it's really nice because it's each like what you're doing and then a picture of what it is. So, it's not just And it's easy to find though. Yes. Yes. It's very
appreciate. So, Ava, she is our website wizard. Great job, Ava. Um, great. So, that that's great. That's Art Night is doing well and Arty's holding out for the next one. Awesome. Um, and the Autumn Arts Festival. We
feel I feel like we need Ava here for that one, too. Um, unless anybody have any update to you, Jordan, any update on Arts Festival? You have a good strong list of vendors so far? I think the max capacity we're looking at around 40 and we're kind of nearing that. That's wild.
Wow. We've usually been around 20. That's definitely past that now. Yeah. So, that's fantastic. Um, can you remind me the It's on here. The date is what I was asking. September 13th. September 13th. I've got them all right here.
I know. I remember that right as I asked. It's not my memory. It's just Let's be clear. I'm cheating. She's not good. Um, and what else do we have here? Okay, so then, uh, Taste of Nor St. Paul, Liza
or Laura? Any update on that? And Sharon. And Sharon. Yeah, I got the super subcommittee. But, um, yeah, so we have good news and also bumps. Um, but we connected with Ava and Jordan and they were awesome super sleuths and like
kind of looked at what permits we would need. And unfortunately, I do not think we can do what we had originally envisioned just because of the impact it would have like on the people we're asking to come and like be food vendors. They would need to have their own
individual permits and we couldn't do it at like finding the right space. Um, but I will say this, we had a super productive meeting with Sharon, Lauren, myself, and we have possibly a alternative that's a bit more accessible actually for both the folks that we want
to involve the businesses and also our community. Um, a food passport where it's kind of like when we were talking originally about like doing a raffle at the um, Taste of St. Paul, like, you know, go around and like, you know, kind of have a stamp to be like, oh, I went
here, here, and here. What if we just had that open to the community and then they can like submit their like passports at the end? And Sharon, actually, I learned so much about Minnesota laws on lotteryies. Um, but we would want to run
it by legal for sure, but maybe have some sort of like prize or a raffle. I know, probably not that, but like something um to engage with folks and kind of have it over a period of time with like an end date. Um but one, it gets folks into the doors of these businesses. It's not asking them to go
out of their way to close shop to for one night. So, I do want to give like a lot of credit to Laura cuz she's the one who's just like, "Hey guys, I have an idea." So, and parks thing. Yeah. Like the state parks. So, yeah. Yeah. because we we want to encourage people to try
places they haven't tried. And I think it's just kind of human nature. We go where we know and what we like. And so this way, you know, if we have kind of a goal of do this many stamps or um get to this level of completion and then we'll have a special keychain that only those
that complete it will get, you know, or something like that tangible that then they can show off of like I've completed this, but then it gets them trying, you know, all of these other cultures and foods. They can get the full set of snowy cards. So, all right. I think we have to do a
little more something else. You know, a window decal, you know, something that they know. So, just promote like kind of we love North St. Paul. So, I love it. North St. Paul Business Association should have come up with this one.
Well, it's the culture of the food, the cuisine of North St. Paul. So that's where it fits into our team here. That's beautiful. I love and puzzles was a great space, but I mean there was just so many limitations of those vendors couldn't use the that kitchen and so
it's just hard on them and we don't want to even on a Thursday night hurt their normal business by having them away. So passport is a great idea because then you just be and I'm sure all the restaurants would love it. Oh, you have a plan to bring more people to it. Great.
Excellent. How many restaurants are there in North St. Paul? Does anybody know? That is actually going to be part of our next like subcommittee meeting, but we're hoping to find out. I was going to say, Jordan, spoiler alert for my next email. Um kind of talking about like what business permits are around
for restaurants to kind of get like the list of like who's all here cuz I mean I can name like you know easily 10 like just off the cuff. But um we have plenty of folks and I think the next like meeting we'll have will kind of like talk about what what are the next steps.
So yeah and we want to hit on all of you know the smaller shops too. So we've got bakeries and coffee shops and um like fly by coffee you know just things that you know we've now been in and we want to promote. So bring people into North St. Paul, and if we can pass it out to,
you know, like on a car show night, maybe not the big truck night because we're already doing something, but one of those Friday nights um where we could promote, then it's more people coming back into our community and spending their money. Be interesting to have kind of like a a fun facts about each of the
restaurants or something too, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Just to kind of create more interest about each of those places or something. H like the owner of Max grew up in North St. Paul
or Newman's Bar. There's lots of fun facts about or something. Yeah. Well, that's great. That's an excellent update. I love that idea. Anything else? Wow. That's it. A lot. So, I think we
got all of our subcommittee updates. Any old business for us today, Jordan? I don't think so. Um I don't believe so. Okay. So then we have reports from staff which is the budget and events calendar. Could we now this is just an idea so
please if anyone is uncomfortable with this um don't hesitate to shoot this down but I wonder if for the big truck night the autumn arts festival we um we list maybe all as available because that really isn't all hands- on
deck. Those two are really all hands-on deck events. Yeah. What do you say? Oh, what do you mean? We don't have anyone. We So, oh, okay. If instead of leaving it blank, my anxiety all hands meetings are on those will be an all hands event.
Yeah. So, as you're able, you know, stuff happens and you can't go, but um especially the autumn arts festival, that's a big long one. Thank you for that.
And then I wonder too if um we could also add the August 5th um bring Snowy home to the calendar. August 5th is the national night out. Right. Correct. I wasn't sure. Since we
want to tag team with them. And um are you looking for that to be in all hands also? I do. You think we need everybody for that, Laura? What do you think? No, but I think it'll be fun. Yeah. You can come please. Everyone should be there just for fun. I'll be there. Why don't
we have a suggested all hands on that night? It's not man not mandatory and of course we're recognize that everyone here is a volunteer but you know what I mean. We do. Thank you Sharon. Appreciate it.
Good call out Carrie. Thank you. Um, anything else budget and events wise? You know, you just mentioned something, Carrie, earlier about the art card and fixing that for. And I wonder
if that's something we could pay somebody to do that. I mean, I bet public works could probably do it, but I just hate to just throw things at them all the time. Mhm. Um, or can we pay them to do it? Can we
pay? Oh, yeah. I definitely can run it by Ron and Randy and see what they think that needs to be done to it. Maybe they know somebody that be paid to do it and we could take it out of our budget to do it, but it's a little bit of a
risk. I could see that thing coming down and smacking somebody pretty. Yeah. Knock you right out if it that thing came down and hit you. Let's avoid liability. Really heavy door. Yeah. Is it the door to that? The door to get into it. Big swing up door on the side
of it. Okay. It swings way up and there's kind of just like maybe even one arm that works now. And it does. It's got these cotter pins that kind of hold it open. And it's it's not easy to get it up and open. It would be better if it had like some kind of like hydraulic
door opener type thing on both sides. Yeah, you can't. We have to make Tom do it because Amanda got it the other day, but it's really not pleasant and it's not easy to deal with. And we don't want kids to get their fingers smashed or
whatever. Arts commissioner, traumatic brain injury of an arts commissioner. That's what I imagine is ducking under there. Yep. Yeah. If that if it needs to be updated, it would be, you know, yeah, little TLC. That's how it was when when we were kids
around here. Was it just a wagon? It's about time. Even if I had a crank chain on it or something just Oh, that's great. Yeah, it's a little risky right now, but that would be great if you could look into that for us, Jordan. I appreciate that. All right.
Um, reports from commissioners. Eliza, do you have anything for us? I have no no reports. No updates. Laura, nothing for me. Sharon, I said everything. I don't think so. I thought I had something, but it fell out of my head.
So, never mind. Nope. I'm good. Yeah, I don't think I have anything either. I'm going to the big trash pickup day this Saturday. I'm volunteering. Are you? Mhm. I kind of hate I don't I hate to even talk about too much because the line is always so
long anyway. It's like there's I know there's a lot of people going are redoing it. They are. So they're doing two lines. Oh, really? Oh, interesting. More efficient. Okay. So, um yeah. So, we
recognize that it's not, you know, last year was not ideal and so yeah, we're trying to make it more. It's a bit I can't I think it went maybe a couple years ago. It's a bit of a wait, but it's worth it. You know, dump all that stuff. Goes quick once you're in there.
Not to promote other committees, but following weekend is park cleanup day. So, about that also. So, your local park go to they will have representatives there with gloves and everything. You can absolutely promote our other commissions here. That's great. So, and
on the 18th, it is park cleanup day. You know what time? On May 18th. uh was in the newsletter today. I just don't off the top of my head. Okay. Who will be first? I guess it's May 17th,
right? May 17th. May 17th. Um I believe it is 10 o'clock. Okay. 10:30. Okay. So, you can stay there as long as you want. So, it'll be all local parks.
A I should go to my park. Cute. On there. And then as a fundraiser for that there's a a dinner at Max on that following Monday the 19th.
Yeah. Just for the Silver Lake Improvement Association, right? I had my canoe out on Silver Lake last weekend and I tell you, they need the money to keep working on those. Yeah, there's like huge globs of stuff
in there now. I'm like, what is that? Do you use the canoe? You know, the hours for um the dinner as it's like at 4 on the 19th. Um here I go, Sharon. I got it right here. No, it's okay. 4 to 9. Okay, let
me have something, Troy. No, I appreciate you. Just wanted to get all the information out into the universe while we were talking about it. Uh, there is a state of the district school district on Tuesday, I think, from 3:00 to 4:30. Did you get that one,
Troy? I did. Yes. And I will be there. I'm going to try to go, but I always meet with my boss on Tuesday. So, we'll see. Maybe I'll be fired. And that's the entire 622. Yeah. Okay. I was going to ask you about that. Yeah.
state. Yeah, I'm trying to think of her name. Christine. Christine. There you go. Uh will be presenting just talking about what's going on with the school district. Great. Any more updates from our council liaison?
Um we had our meetings last night were really quick. Uh, we met Ken. Uh, Ava came in and did an awesome job presenting on um the improvements that she's made to the website. Hopefully everybody's checked out the new website.
Redesign is awesome. Um, she talked about her uh communications plans using Facebook and Instagram. Given the demographic of the North St. Paul area, Facebook tends to be our go-to. Um, but you know, still trying to push uh Instagram as a way to
get outside of the community and hit a broader audience. So, don't you love So, yeah, that's cool. It's so neat. It's way more user friendly, so it's easier to find things. So, yeah. Okay. Is the Coupola with the
little snowman weather vein, is that here? Is that right outside on the city hall building? Yes, it is. Oh, yeah. The Not that that's up top of the building. Yeah. Couple looks like a cup.
I don't know. And there's no um Tik Tok page for the city. No. Uh one thing we did talk about last night is potential for looking at an intern for Ava. Um because obviously
also look for one for Jordan. you know, with the work that she's done and if we wanted to do something like Tik Tok, then yes, we would probably I remembered my thing. Can I have takebacks? Dang it.
It's not my meeting. So, um I think it's Sarah's wedding this week. Next week. Oh, so we should all wish her congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Good job, Sarah. Happy wedding. Yeah. Thanks. Um, I have one
thing I do want to bring up. Uh, Ava wanted me to ask that if you guys wanted a arts and culture commission float to decorate and walk by at the fall roundup parade, if you guys would be interested in that.
Like, u, yeah. Well, we we have in the past. We just drive a car. We don't like float. A float would be cool though. But we didn't. Was she offering to build us a float? Yeah. I don't know if the float might have been just a car. This is what she told me. Well, cuz we just had like a trailer and people were on it
throwing stuff out. Yeah, we threw candy and stuff. Can we do that? I thought the impression I got was that you guys would be like with the city. You and Pass were with the city one, but like this would be its own arts one, but sounds like there already was. No, they always had separated us. It cuz remember Lisa could
never walk with us. She always had to walk with the city. Yeah. Be very bitter. So we're happy to do whatever. Yeah. Whatever. Float would be cool. The only thing I would say is that it sounds like they are cutting
back on the number of entries into the parade. So, okay. You know, in talking to the business association who runs it back on the number of entries just because it gets so long.
Yeah. Well, maybe then we could join up with other commissions or something. Yeah. Yeah. I think we were joined with other commissions. I think the commissions all walked together and then the city walked in front of us and then it was Peter Fischer and Leon Lily or whatever in
front of them. So it was all like stayed. Yeah, it was. Yeah. But if you guys got the option for your own, would you want to decorate it and walk by it? Yeah.
And not by myself. Y'all would have to join me. But I mean, we're in for whatever would be best for the city, I think, is how we feel. Of course, we're in. You know, whatever is best, that's what we'll do. Oh, what date is that? Yeah. What's the
date on the fall roundup? That's not on here. Question number 18th. It's usually like right after. Oh, so no, that's art night. It's going to bump up against art night. Is that the date of it? It is. Yeah, I
looked it up on the because I was like, "Dang it." Yeah. What? I think it's September 18th. Well, that might be trickier. Not everyone has to go to art, right?
That's true. Well, we could ask Sua if she wants to go to September. Yeah, but that's watercolor creating cards. Can't pass that up. I want to go to that. You want to walk in a parade? Okay.
My grandkids love it. Come on. Parade. Oh my gosh. All right. Anything else? No. All right. I'm looking for a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Moved by Carrie. Second. By Eliza. All those in favor say
I. I. Opposed. Meeting is adjourned at 7:20 p.m.