All right. At 6:30, we'll call to order the City of North St. Paul Arts and Culture Commission, our o October 1st, 2025 meeting. Jordan, would you like to take call for us, please? And do uh Tom Sonic present. Carrie Neto here.
Amanda Black here. Sharon Clark Williams here. Raquel Sodto here. Laura String here. Eliza Verma here. U Rosco Garcia here. Troy Woods here. Full house and our staff leazison Jordan
Layman. Thank you all for being here. Uh we're going to move on to our next step of adopting our agenda. Uh anybody have any thoughts or changes you'd like to make to the agenda? If not, we'll look for a motion to approve the agenda as listed. I move to approve the agenda as listed, please. Moved.
I second. Who did that? Oh go. Okay. I got a motion and a second. And all in favor say I. I. Oppos. Agenda is adopted. Approval of minutes. Everybody get a chance to look through the minutes. Any questions, edits, changes you'd like to make.
Tiny tiny under utility boxes. I don't know if I misspoke. It was the 10th anniversary. Not that big of a deal, but maybe for a historian. Yep. I can change that. Thank you. So, if nothing else, we'll look for a
motion to approve the minutes with the uh edit of the parks anniversary being 10 years rather than 15 years. Motion moved by Eliza. Second. Second by Amanda. All in favor say I. I.
I. Opposed. Carries. Uh minutes are approved. Meeting open to public. Nobody here. Public hearings. We have none. Commission business action items. So, autumn arts feedback discussion. So, uh, Amanda, you going to lead us on this?
Yeah. Um, so Tom and I met with Ava last week and heard from the feedback forms that she received as well as just feedback that Tom and I had. Uh, the papers in front of you goes through most of that, but
Ava and us would like to hear from the rest of you about your feedback. Specifically, Ava would like to know the priorities and vision for the future. the layout, event hours, and event growth we can talk about a little bit
because we've got ideas. But um anybody just have general comments? How do you think it went? Anything go ary? I thought the signage was better and um overall just the plan on times and
postings um was helpful to visitors to know what was happening where. Um and it seemed like things were closer like the action um the face painting the balloon like all of that was closer and you know more getable. Um I had a hard time with
the center aisle of the tents. Yes. was there. Yeah, a lot of people did and we've heard that feedback and we have options that I'm going to discuss with Ava from what I've seen at events as how we can do it if we are at in the parking lot again next year. So, that won't happen
again. Basically, um we I had two of the vendors the um that were at the festival in the watercolor cards class last week and um both said they really didn't think well
they didn't like the layout but it wasn't because of whatever it was just everyone was so focused on the performers. Okay. So it was it felt like there were two separate events happening. Sure. So you had people coming to watch the performers and not going over to the vendors. Whereas last year or previous
years they would be watching the performers get maybe get a little bored, turn around, go buy some stuff, you know. So so somehow maybe centrally locating those in future somehow. I think that's important with when we're talking about
uh priorities and vision for the future and figuring out what our focus needs to be for this event and what Ava should work on like bringing to the event. Uh timing wise, we did get a lot of comments that it was running late or not
late but that it was very long for a lot of the vendors. How do you feel about bringing the time down to she suggests either 11 to four or five or 10 to 5? I think that sounds good. It doesn't affect it doesn't affect me.
It's more of like what would work out best for the event. If there was like a significant uh decrease in attendance after 5 or after 4, then that would justify uh let's tighten it up. Yeah. What I've seen a lot in events is it doesn't matter what time you end, the
last hour is always slow as far as from a vendor perspective. But what I think is um Polar Drift seemed like a good five o'clock music, right? Yeah. So, possibly it could be that the event
runs until 5, but at 5:00 there's like this grand performance at the end. I don't know if that would work, but button on it. Yeah. And then people who are coming for Polar Drift, if they aren't shopping anyway, then vendors can start tearing down option.
Yeah. Yeah, it felt Oh, go ahead. No, no, I'm It felt like it got chaotic when they were cleaning up in the parking lot. I don't know if that was just an observation. I don't know if you had feedback for that. Not a ton. Okay. Yeah.
My only comment is bees. M there were there were a lot of them especially in the parking lot where uh so we had food on one side but then the black top got uh hot and that attracts them I know somebody who's allergic and I I
was like I'm out of here there's just too many of these around here and I do know and maybe they did not complain but there was one vendor that literally was getting chased out of their area. Oh my gosh.
Was that the one that had the ice cream spill right by their truck or something? I I don't recall any specifics. I just know that I saw them swatting and moving quickly and I thought, "Yeah, there was a vendor who who who found me
cuz I had a blue shirt on and said, "Hey, can you come and clean up a spill? Somebody's dumped a ice cream cone or something like that." That's He said it's attracting bees. So, I went over and cleaned it up. Yeah. I I did not investigate the source
of the bees, but I did notice that as it got warmer and the day went along, there were more and more yellow jackets to the point that I was like, "Yeah, I'm I'm done." Mhm. So, some vendors didn't mind being in the parking lot and preferred it, and
some vendors preferred being on the grass, which is all you're never going to please everybody. Um, but looking ahead, Ava is thinking about combining the two essentially. Is there anywhere that you could think of that
what we already have existing can be moved or put in a different area? Any thoughts? Something that came up in the class um was the discussion of perhaps um looking at downtown as an option for an event space um just
because we already do the car show down there. The sidewalks are wide enough that they could accommodate the vendors. It would just be a matter of finding a suitable place to have performers or a central location and a tent and some chairs and stuff. But that was the feedback I heard. We've talked a lot
about that and clearly I won't be here for next year's discussion but uh we have relayed that to Ava. I don't know she has to talk with the city manager more about it. Um from again what I've seen tents would be
set up in the center of the street would be the ideal option. uh people walking on either side. Then uh you could have it with how our downtown is arranged where vendors are in the parking spaces and then the center becomes your walking space. Either way
works and either way is pretty smooth for setup and tear down because vendors drive in from one point and drive all the way through and then there's an exit on the other side of the street. Um when it's set up like that, performances and everything would be at either end. Also,
I think if we do that, we can get either the VFW or American Legion to maybe have outdoor beer service or something. So, say the American Legion has beer service. The VFW hosts the performers. Actually, they should be close together. Anyway, um that's how I would see it
happening downtown. I just think it'd be great for businesses, you know. Just I was going to say while I adore the park because I love parks, um the Fargo Arts Festival is very similar where they closed their downtown for it and it
works really really well. So I was going to say it's something that's been done and done well. So yeah. Yeah, I agree. I brought that up when we met um the the city option um the downtown. I think it, you know, we were talking about that very early
on, right, Amanda with when we were planning this and then kind of thought, okay, well, maybe what we need is to get this thing a little more established and let it grow a bit and and see when we can get to that point where we could do something like that. And I feel like we've been doing that. So, it's been
getting bigger every year. It's getting established. um if you know I think there's more evidence available to the council and the city manager to support something like that. Um so and and obviously we have a model
for doing something like this because we do it every Friday night in the summer. Um, to me it seems like a really neat opportunity to kind of bring back what we used to have which like crazy days in the fall roundup and so the because you probably remember Sharon the but just
you know it was all connected you know so the fall Roundup parade was a part of the whole thing I think and so the crazy days were was right around the same t time or you know so having it a like a a whole sort of North St. whole week where you could kind of do uh things and may I
know I recognize that that can be a lot on staff, but knowing that it's all uh condensed into a oneweek period might make it a little easier. Yeah. And then with the with the downtown space, I think you just um I mean, aside from the fact that you're closing off the street, I mean, you don't have to
you don't have to close off all the 7th Avenue. Um you could close off one section of it probably. And then they, you know, for the Friday night car shows, they they already set up bands in different locations to to play. And so
you could have maybe several acts going on at once depending on how you did it, you know. So, um, but the the car show being a perfect model of how you could pull this off. I really like having the tent and the chairs though. I think that makes it really nice for people that are watching
the performances. That's one thing that they don't have for car show. So, if we could Yeah, we could still have that. Replicate that. I really think that helps. It could be in a parking lot where you would set up chairs, right? But I I do remember I was thinking back.
I do remember crazy days. I remember the PA there would be it would end there would be a PA. Do you remember that? I don't remember the PA. No. And but that and the nice part about it is it'll all be it would all be kind of
condensed together. So the commitment for staff, for commissioners, we know like, okay, this is this is crazy days a week or, you know, this is fall roundup week. We know like we're on everything and we do it and it's done. It's kind of like our big farewell to summer, right?
And so I don't I don't think that I think that's a good thing. I'd rather do that than a little dribble here, dribble there. Let's just go. I grew up in Lakeville and we call it Pana Prague and there's a car show, a parade. The car show night is called cruise night and
everything. I don't know if they do vendors. We they didn't when I was growing up, but there were nights that were dedicated to each kind of event and same thing where it's just get out one weekend the whole city gets to celebrate and yeah. Have
you had any feedback from um North volunteers or any of your compatriots from the event? Um, no. I only from Latin X. One of my friend. Yeah. She said it was nice. Okay. To see all the different performances. Good.
And also the food. Yeah. Who doesn't like food? I know. The food was great. But I didn't really stay that long. Yeah. Cuz my head was You didn't feel good. So bad. Yeah. Food was another uh thing that we're looking at moving if it's at the park
because where they were located was very loud for the vendors. Um, and not just that, they were just kind of clunky there. Um, I do know the food trucks liked being off the street because last year
somebody actually got hit being in the street. Well, that's that makes me think then maybe the parking lot should be through the food trucks and then they put the artists on the grass so that it leads
into because we definitely had lots and lots of people coming to see the axe. The axe really drew a crowd and then that way they'd have to walk through the arts. Yeah. To get to the um to see the performances and then
food people will find food. Mhm. Yes. We don't have to worry about that. Y I do think like you mentioned it was loud. I do think that it was a little loud. Um because I mean even at the art cart like you're having to try to yell a little bit to the kids on the process.
Um so I could see how if we toned that down or if we had multiple sites with concerts that were a little more intimate that that might be nice. I can send this stuff all to Ava and then I think I will send her
layouts and information from events that I've done so that she can see an example not just of downtown layouts but park layouts too. Um we can go from there. Can I add like one extra aside? Um so with the signs um Sharon and I put
them out and stuff and um liked the locations of them. I was wondering if maybe next year some of them were starting to look a little worn. Um, and also it might be nice to maybe work on the design a little bit. Um, just cuz it
was a little busy and maybe we can like updates please like or updates or have like a space to like I don't know velcro dates on or something like that. That was a part that I noticed was there was it what what what's Saturday? Does Saturday? Is this
a old sign? This is Did I miss this? I think we made that a couple years ago so that we could use them, but considering that we were trying to use more budget this year, we probably have room in the budget each year then for some new signs. I don't think they cost that much.
Or like you said, just so we could just have space where we can at least, you know, put a date up, take it off. I mean, we just need a tape on there, a date, peel it off, use the signs. Okay, great job. This it was a really fun event.
The growth was really really good day. Okay, anything else on Autumn Arts? I really liked the buttons, too. Like the the so PE would know who was a volunteer and not. That was really helpful. Okay, sorry.
I'm done. There were buttons. There were buttons. You got to wear a little button. Did you not get your button? Either. If you had a shirt on. Oh, I wore both. You know how I volunteers from high school and stuff.
Got Of course, Troy would hoard the buttons. Yeah, Troy. There's the button hoarder. [Laughter]
They were so cute. Um, okay. Subcommittee updates. So, uh, public art project. Any update here? Whoa. Yep. Wow. Okay. Go ahead, Carrie. Well, we met last night. It was great.
Had a lot of fun. Um, I feel like we did it with our bring snowy home project. So, that's good. And then we brainstormed ideas for next year of things that we want to do. Uh, and Laura has an update on the stamp. Yes. So, um, from the previous
discussions that we had on the stamp, um, the one that we were going to move forward with, I ultimately scratched because they were framed out. You know, it was like in a rectangle or in a circle and less of that like hidden snowy factor and we do want it to be
um, you know, smaller and and less in your face. Like we want you to have to search for it. Mhm. So, I started looking up other options and found this like custom branding iron as an option. So, um I've reached out to the maker and I can pass this down. You can see it
after. Um but I looked at how to stamp concrete um with a branding iron and they talked about needing a concrete release agent so you don't get it all smooshy and I'm sure there's a better word for that. Um but then I found it and it's very
affordable. So, we would be looking at, you know, $150 essentially for the branding iron and the release agent. And then we could be reusing that. And it's just the shape of the snowy and not, you know, like a stamp with a outline.
So, more hidden, more special like the hidden Mickey. It would be like 4x4, maybe 5x5, but I've asked the seller because they can go even smaller. But I think 4x4 is I think that's fine size. So, you know what it reminds me of? And like
with the branding iron too, if you look at new um curbs that they do around town, they put W and S in there, right in the curb, and it looks like it's done with a branding iron. It does. You're right. I like that. So that's probably very similar and
probably about the same size as what you're looking for, too. Huh. What does that mean? So So your your water and sewer line, so you can see where that come. So the city may not have to come out and flag it every time, but you can just see right there. That's like thinking ahead, right?
Look at them go. Mhm. Those city planners. Look at I didn't see a G though for like gas. Gas. Maybe they can't put it under concrete. I don't know. They just smell it. They just do the sniff test.
Nice. Just go for it. Hope for the best. I like that idea. The branding iron. Yeah. So we're working on that. And then to use up the rest of our budget, we are diligently researching a penny press machine. Oh my god, is everyone so excited.
I'm so pranking you. Yes, that I love those. Right. Wonderful. Where will this be going? This will live in city hall. I love it. assuming we can have that approved and we will have four designs and we will swap out the designs
um once we figure out how much it cost to swap out the designs on a regular cadence um one penny and so we will have one that is our to start we will have one that is our giant snowman one that is a classic car for history cruisers one
that is a silhouette of Henry Castle our founder a silhouette of our founder Henry Castle And I forgot what we decided on for the fourth. I want to talk about police and fire. Oh, we did. Oh, no. Autumn Arts Festival. Yes. There you go. One for Autumn Arts Festival. That will
be a leaf, not a maple leaf and an artist palette because we don't want to be confused with maple wood. So, or Little Canada. Or little can. Oh, thanks. Yeah. So, um, we got some homework to do. So, we're going to try to get that done really quick and get that. Yeah. See
your Google right now. Check it out. Own your own penny press machine because you know what? People have to come to city hall to do stuff. Why not have there be something fun? We already have the art project from last autumn arts festival. People can come and look at it. You know, I'm not trying to turn city
hall into a museum or whatever, but why not make it? Well, couldn't you haul it out to the car show? I guess you could. I think if you selected the right penny press, it would be something that could be hauled out mobile. Yeah. How much do these things go for? Yeah, that's a couple thousand bit. Really? Yeah.
That's one of the issues. We're We're working on it. Do it. Well, we're negotiating. What's the guy on Big? The Goran or whatever the Magnificent, you know, where he gets the Remember the movie Big with Tom Hanks? I wish I was big and he's like the wizard.
Zultan. Yeah. Yeah. It's like that. That would be cool. Let's get one of those, too. We could have a whole arcade and a pin downstairs. Oh my god. People would never leave. Yeah. Let's see how that goes. There's got to be an empty conference
room. We can just turn probably. Thank you, Troy. I think the penny press is fabulous idea, though. Very nice. Just sees her future going. Well, and I'd like I'd like to have the credit card one because then you don't have to worry about having a penny. But
I suppose if it's in here then we could always beg Jordan to keep a little Oh, you have to bring your own penny or what do you or how do you how Yeah, because you put the two quarters in the penny. Oh, that's the penny. Mhm. Okay. So, I think the 50 cents is your payment, right?
So, that's the one thing we would have to Oh, yeah. The city is Yeah. Yeah. Where does the pay have to collect the payment and where does that payment go? Hopefully to getting more designs, right? Because we were thinking we could have a round of designs that were done by
young kids, you know, have them design something for the penny press that would get all the grandparents in here. We were thinking around of actually commissioning artists for just little, you know, hundred bucks, commission a little design or whatever. Or potential maintenance for the machine. Yeah. Or something competition. Y
where we vote or the city votes on a a kid drawing that will become a penny press for the year. So could look at lots of options here. Where did the pennies come from? So usually they provide the penny and the two quarters and so the quarters are the payment that because this is last year pennies
will be issued in the Are you serious? It is. Yeah. Where have you guys been not reading the news? Because it's terrible using Venmo. Yes. This is the last year pennies will be issued. But it they I'm sure have
we'll have copper discs that they can buy to put in the machine. If not, we can use our 50 cents to buy copper discs. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. True. Thanks, Sharon. I just wanted to point out that we can't expect people to come in with pennies and nickel because they are not
expensive. The other option is they do have like souvenir coin souvenir medallion. Yeah. Yeah. Right. It's not the same. That's not the same to like Yeah, you got to see it squish. Yeah. Crank the All right.
Anyway, so more to come. I'll quit. Love it. Any press. I'm adding this on the list. Good. Press. And then Laura, are you able to send me that information that got passed around about the stamps? Yes. Over email and then I can maybe just send that to Ron just to get make sure
it's all good. And unless he's already seen it, as well. I just didn't add the pictures. Okay. But I can just add that to my email. All right. Sweet. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Mural team. I didn't get to read the thing. I'm sorry.
Oh, do you want We can Sharon, do you want to get it? Okay. Go ahead. So, and Jordan, I did just email you this earlier today, but um we have a project plan together. So, one of the things it's it's too late now to try and
find another location for mural um given the time constraints and the weather. Um so, we kind of shifted our thinking on this and one of the things we had an idea of was um art benches. Um and probably the if anybody looks on
Pinterest, Sharon found this. This is a good way to look is if you just look for um what was it? Art artist. Yep. public art painted. Yeah, public art benches or something like that. You can see all these designs. I included a few of them
in our in our proposal. Um, but the idea would be that we would purchase like park benches that could be used in the parks or they could also be used downtown, but we were kind of focusing on parks. Um, and then similar
to the snowies, commission artists to create designs for the benches that would that they could either paint on the slats of the benches or if we found benches that had more uh uh like a full uh back and seat. Yeah, more like a pan.
More like a bus uh bench I think you would see. Could they be vinyl wrapped like the And that's the other option. So, if an artist came up with a design, there's a potential that could be vinyl wrapped. And so we'd have to look into that with like our our vinyl wrap folks or find a
new vendor to um to see if they can do uh take the artist design and and have it wrapped that way. Um, so if we did something like that, you know, we could potentially have, you know, four benches, let's say, and if
they cost, you know, these benches, if you get like the industrial type for for a park, you know, you're looking at $1,000 to $1,500 for the bench. Um, and if you paid an artist a commission to, you know, to paint the
bench, uh, all materials included, or if they or if they came up with a design and then we paid the wrap company to wrap it. So, you add maybe another $1,000 for a bench right there. So, we could probably do four benches for $10,000.
And then those things could be placed in um our parks or could be placed downtown or you know again what we're are what we conceived of with this was to have them all in the parks and there are numerous locations. I did I I uh went down to
Dorothy Park and there are actually a couple of really nice city of North St. Paul benches that are there because I think that park was more recently redone. So there's really not a need for benches there unless he put one that was more like in front of the lake and looking out which would be nice.
Exactly what I was thinking this weekend. That would be nice. Beautiful view right where the canoes are stored. Snowy that's right there. So if you want to just sit on a bench and look out at the lake, which would be kind of nice. Um, also there's there's I
think there's a need for uh park benches um at Silver Lake Park, especially around where the uh playground and the tennis court and the beach. Uh there is one bench there that's kind of old and beat up, but there could use a couple others. Having watched my grandson there
recently, there are no real benches by that old slide and yeah area. So, and the intention here was to have kind of like uh nature themes. Um, so like if we did a call for artists, we could reach out to our typical uh our usual suspects
uh people who have done these types of things and say, "Hey, we're we're looking for natural theme nature themes things that could blend in." Um, you know, there's kind of a question on the form. It's like, would would the thing blend in or stand out where it's located? And my response is that well
that it would do both. I mean it blend in because if we had them uh at parks we would want some sort of nature theme but they would stand out because of their artistic design and expression. You know that we would um you know we don't want it to just be you know painted green
like grass or something. Um so but uh so that's kind of the the idea that we floated out there. Um, so it'd be interesting because that way if nothing I if at the very least there's potential that you know we could use uh our mural
budget um to purchase benches um we could get I think that before the end of the year we could easily purchase the benches but probably also get a call for artists out and get the painting done and then store the benches until spring and then have a in spring we could start
out right away and have a um a reveal party like kind of like we did with snowies or something or just have some kind of social media something just drawing attention to these things. Um and then so right out of the gate in 2026 we could have something new out
there that didn't hit our budget in 2026. Yeah, that's awesome. So that's our idea. You're not planning on having them painted this year too, are you? potentially, you know, so like if an artist, you know, you know, but potentially we could have the artist is
say, you know, you take it to your own location and paint it. Sure. I'm just thinking the call for artist takes a little bit longer. Yeah, I know. So, it would be tight, but it's something that could be worked out over the winter. I mean, yeah, we six, seven months to work with
here for winter. So there would be the call for artists and if it turns out that wrapping is an option that would just be fantastic because they would be working on their art piece and then have time to photograph it and digitalize it. So even but then then it's just the art
commissions would go on our budget next year, right? Rather than this year. But if we if we were to, you know, purchase benches this year, we could we could at least, you know, scope out the project, use our budget from this year to to purchase the benches, define the locations, and then
we'd have all winter where we could work with the artist to come up with the designs if we didn't want to try and get them uh painted before the end of this year. And you'd still have enough budget this year to do even more than four if we're storing the benches, right? Then you would just have to think, you know, what would the artist
commission be for each of the benches? And then, you know, depending on what kind of budget we get for next year and then whatever we take out to pay artists for the benches, you know, that would, you know, limit our ability to do some other kind of public art or say a mural
next year. I just think it'd be wise to think about Jordan's time and how in the next three months I don't know if you can purchase benches, get a call up for artist, review the call for artist, and get all that done with the city council approvals that need to get done too.
Yes. By by the end of December through winter. Yes. I that's what he's saying is through winter. So So between now and December, we would be looking at purchasing benches. Got I thought you meant by end of December, have the artist chosen and artist painting.
Yeah, I that's what I put in the form actually that by be by the end of December. I mean and I think it we could push it if we did that. But the call for artists reviewing the submissions um making selections that would be something that the mural committee would do that we wouldn't need Jordan to do
that. We the mural committee has done that in the past without No. Yeah. Without the help of the staff liaison. So it would be just a matter of purchasing the benches. Um, and then, you know, we'd have to we could also the, you know, Sharon and Carrie and I
could uh coordinate um with the artists on painting, etc. Sure. Okay. So, I mean, I think it's possible to do I mean, if we if we wanted to push it out and then the um the as far as like um
uh city council approval, I mean, it would just be the the spending of the dollars that would be on the consent agenda. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's I don't think that's too complicated there. Not that it's complicated, but uh if you're not ready to purchase the benches now, like right
now, right? Whenever you do, you need to wait until then, right? Like you need to wait until it goes through the consent agenda to actually purchase. And council meets every two weeks. Is it first and third?
Tuesday. Okay. Okay. So, two So, twice a month. I'm just trying to think it through. Yeah. Yep. But with as hard as it's been to find walls for the murals, I think it's a really exciting way to add that art elsewhere. So that's really cool.
Way to think outside the box. So if we do if we do, you know, push the art the artist's uh work until later, then yeah, I mean it gives us a lot more time to do that, but then we'd pay those artists in 2026 and would have to come
out of that budget. So trying to do it in fourth quarter here would at least uh give us an opportunity to use the budget that we have rightaining. Yeah, I definitely think I think purchasing the benches might be pretty
feasible before the end of the year. Um I appreciate the this project template um that you guys filled out. There's I've already seen a lot of useful information. Um, Ron is definitely going to be somebody I'm going to be talking to a lot for this. I don't I'm going to bring this up, but I don't have a lot of
information on it. I think benches in the park have to be a specific bench. Like, they all have to be the same. I don't think that could be a problem. I'm not really sure what kind of benches there are, if they're metal or not, but that's just something to keep in mind. Um, I feel like Sarah's told me this. So, there should be, I feel, like a
pretty good process to buying these benches, so it shouldn't maybe be take too long. Um, yeah, they all have to be the same. I don't really know what they look like, but I think it's a great idea and I'll definitely yeah, start running it through uh department heads.
Yeah, great. So, that's the that's our update. Okay, who do we have next? Uh, utility boxes. Okay. Well, awesome. Well, why don't we start with Laura because you are finishing up the hard
hands one. So, I got the template for the new box location and I have finished um adjusting the artwork to fit the new dimensions. Um but in that it was um
relayed to me that the file size was too good, too big, and I should cut it by 50%. But I don't want to cut the quality by that much because we're already going to be blowing up these hands that were taken on iPhones and a better than mine. But you know, still um so I would like
to get the information directly for the utility box wrap people so that I can find out if they have a Dropbox or a flash or something so that I could get the original quality image to them. Um just so it's a good quality by the time it's wrapped. Nice.
But it's done. So I just need that information so I instead of you know limiting the quality of what we ended up with. So, but we're we'll be good. And then I think the turnaround for actually wrapping is pretty quick. So, we should
have hopefully good weather still. Just so I'm understanding correctly, you just need the you're getting like the actual images to get to them to put on the template or sending the template cuz the file size was too. So, yeah. Okay.
Okay. Thank you. Okay. So Laura and I have talked about this. I've given the the printed copy now to Eliza. We had talked last year at the beginning of the season of using a slightly different process for doing the
utility wraps. The idea being we'll make the call for artists early in the year like February or March and have a preplay pre-planned these are the utility boxes that we want. have them pre-selected and approved by the city so we'll have the
right dimensions locations so the artists can see them. I you have not seen this because I haven't sent it to you but I did did a sketch up of a call for artists for the 2026 utility boxes with for four boxes and um
and there's one down there you can let Laura see it or whoever see it. So with the idea being of getting this process going early on. Sweet. Sounds good. And so that is not final. That is a that
is a highlevel sketch of this is what I perceive. So on this one I believe I selected four like one with a history cruise theme. One with a near a children's playground with a children's theme. one open call for any type of art
that reflects the good life in Minnesota and one is nature. Uh we will have the locations predetermined which is not listed on there. Um, as far as like the History Cruise one, obviously I would coordinate with Bruce.
As far as using like the logo, because that's their trademarked logo to get permission to in incorporate that into the artwork and maybe using photographs that they had previously for people to create art from, whether it be one where we pre-select an artist and say, "Hey,
this is what we want based on your prior work or this or that." Each of those locations would need to get fleshed out. The important point is we know now what we want. We'll get all the factors put in. We'll get that posted on to the
website, sent out to our artist lists early in the winter so when the weather comes, their artwork is done. It's been digitalized and they can start printing the wraps and get out there and they'll have all summer to get it done just in
case it's a rainy summer like this. That sounds perfect. Great. We very much wanted to streamline the process and know on the front end what images would be approved for which locations and then very specifically ask for those artists. So, this is awesome,
Sharon. Thank you. Nice job. Thank you. Good work. Um, okay. Art cart. I think we're wrapped for the year. We are. Yes. Okay. Um, art night. There's another one coming up, right? Art night's great. We had four people at
the last event. Amanda's going to do blankets in October and I'm doing mandalas on coasters for November and then we'll be done with the season. We're going to meet in October once Amanda's done with her art tour of
Minnesota. Um, which will be great. Uh, I I'm sorry to be a bad Penny. I love the new tables because I complained about the old tables because they were kind of gross and dirty. They're very heavy
and I'm old and so when I have to set up for the event, um it's difficult for me. So, luckily we just have four people at the last event, but if we get to our numbers that we usually have, that's going to be a lot of table moving. There's a slightly easier way to lift
them. Did you? Well, just open the legs and then I go to the table side and just tilt it up. Oh, instead of Okay. All right. Yeah. I don't know if there's any like ex like table accessory.
I'm guessing not, but you know what I'm saying. Like a wheel or something. It's called the teenage son. Yeah. As if if he were ever home, I could Well, anyway, so that's my one comment. Probably there's nothing you can do about it, but thank you for listening. I mean, yeah, I can definitely look into saying see if
there's Yeah. something like accessory to make it easier, just more accessible. Yeah. Or if if someone a lifting back strap kind of thing. Yeah, that would be great. I would love movers, they have like the little strap, you know, something like that. Or like I don't know if it's possible
for I hate to put things on staff, right? Like I will do anything. Troy had to wrestle picking up the cake from me today because I was like, "No, I can do everything." He's like, "No, I got this." So, I need to be better at asking for help. So, if there were someone from public works who could be like, "Here, I'm just going to pull
three tables off because I can do the chairs." I mean, they they get kind of high, but I could definitely like look into like cuz we know these events so far in advance like putting in a public work order. Even just like for open the tables, they don't have to arrange them correctly, maybe.
Right. Right. Yeah. Like, I don't care. You can drag a table around. Just don't make me have to deal with the table. Anyway, that's enough about art night, I think. Well, speaking of art night, do we know how many people are signed up for this? Currently, we have five signed up for
the blankets. Okay, so there are more spaces available. They go on Raquel. We have a total of 14 spaces, I believe, for that class. How many? 14. Oh, nice. So, there's room. But usually there's about that many, isn't there?
I think so. Sign up. 16 or so. Isn't that our cap? or 20. Normally we're 15. Usually the cap is kind of like what the artist decides or and then budget is the secondary factor, but yeah, normally it's around 15. Okay. Yeah. I know we passed the art cart because
we're done, but um I just wanted to make one comment from the festival. So when we opened the window and the little table flap, um the corners are very pointy, treacherous. Um, and we had some foam
balls that I shoved on the corners that lasted a little while at the event but then got hit by kids. Um, so if there was something more permanent or semi-permanent because we'd have to remove it to put it back up, but just to
guard people's thighs from bruising. Yeah, we can definitely do that. And I think maybe with I'll revisit um with public works about the hydraulics or making it not as treacherous for the door. I went and grabbed Troy. I was like I can't do this.
Yeah, I'll definitely with Amanda's help. I was like struggling halfway. Yeah, I'll revisit that with them. Hopefully it's slowed down for their mechanic and that it's something that they can get on their books because I haven't heard anything so far. So
definitely all winter. Yeah, we're not busy in winter, right? Yeah, exactly. There's nothing going on. It's not going to snow this year. I was going to say just hope for no snow. Yeah. Or on like the So the top. Sure. That'd be great for hydraulics. Even the bottom
if there was like a some sort of chain that you could pull from the inside and get it like a Yeah, like a handle or strap or something. Yeah. Or Yeah. Even a handle just so you could pull it up because sometimes it's just one of us. Yeah. Because it is like like Laura
said, the edges are very sharp. So if you pull it from the top, I don't know. It just hurts. It's all It's all We're delicate flowers. No, we're finally advocating for
ourselves. Sorry. Maybe that's just me. Fragile like a bomb, not like a flower. Like it. Okay. uh autumn arts festival we covered and uh food passport. So I'm using this swanky new uh project
proposal form that uh we're using now and I have one pretty much done. I want to confirm with my other subcommittee members before submitting it. But that's been helpful to kind of outline and maybe revisit some of the points that the lawyer um kind of pushed. So
Okay. Um but yeah, so did you connect with the city manager then on that or how did you know what points that the lawyer was pushing from our discussion that you and I had? Yeah, that's that's the extent of the Oh, so so you're thinking about maybe
trying to find some other uh avenue with it or avenue around because I think the main issue the sticking point was around like the gambling laws that they were concerned about like oh you do this and there's purchase and then there's like that that's been like the main sticking
point. So, I'm writing a project proposal, which um I'm going to see about maybe what if we didn't do that and there's like a different type of like, you know, incentive possibly. But um yeah, I know we're kind of
it's a bit of in the gray area. But that's kind of what repeated to me through folks has been like the main issue is that worry about like gambling loss. So, couldn't we do the thing where they do like no purchase necessary, just send an email to this email and you're good or whatever?
But the thing is is it's like since we're having folks go to the restaurants, technically we are having them do purchasing and like it's like, oh, you complete it and then you send in like you've completed your passport. Anytime there's like a a risk to involve
like a chance, Minnesota has very stringent gambling laws. This is why you don't see raffles at churches anymore. And so that is the big thing that we're
we now Eliza is trying to steer around. Got it. So um does there have to be any incentive involved? So in like spoiler alert subcommittee Oh my gosh. Um, in the current proposal, I was thinking maybe we could do just like
the idea of like if you complete this, you know, you get like a keychain like we talked about and we kind of take away the incentive of like you can be put in for a drawing for this. So, it does take away that level of like fun and kind of excitement that way, but like I still
want them to like get something out of it in a sense, you know, besides having like an experience of our cultural food scene, but you know, I was going to say for me the passport is the fun, right? Like that's like the idea and stuff, but I do like the idea of like if you finish it, you know, you kind of get
all your stamps. You're able to then be like, "And now I have like this limited edition like, you know, North St. Paul like taste of North St. Paul like keychain or something or like a sticker that you can flaunt with your friends." So that takes a risk out of it because it's
you're asking them to actually do a task. There's no bigger prize like a drawing for a gift card or anything like that. They they can um it's pretty straightforward. It's a dimminimous gift. And I don't know if
you ever did get the answer to the dimmin the dimminimous gift question. No, it was mostly like the big focus was on like the we can't have like the raffle and it's like okay like yeah. So I'm like in the new project proposal which is helpful for like breaking
things down. It's more of like yeah the little we would just stop at the point of the gift but there I mean I have some concept of what that might be but I wanted it confirmed of what's the dimminimous gift that could be given for the completion of the
passport asking them to spend sorry spend money it's like if they choose they want to spend money and get a stamp in their passport then they can at the end have this giveaway away, right? Not really
giveaway, but just uh if you complete like you visit like all the places um like like prize like Yeah. like you can get a like you know classic keychain a really awesome limited edition custom keychain like but then the spending of the money is
like their own decision and they're not Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And you also know upfront like this is what you're going to get out of out of it and like Yeah. So And there's no risk. And there's no risk. Yeah, parks giveaway. Like I get they're not char, you know, you just go to all the parks
and take a picture, but then isn't there a risk with the raffle for the hammock? That's not our contest. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I was trying to I Cool. Thanks. Yeah. Be careful for the what?
The parks commission and they're they have a the photo thing. If you take a photo at the at every park, then you can get entered into a raffle to win a hammock. So, if the gambling laws I don't know I don't know how that got started, so I would hesitate to make any
comments. I would never want you to comment on something that you weren't comfortable sharing. But I do know that I can see what the issue is with with ours. Thank you. Okay.
That is it. Anything else? All right, let's move on. We got old business. I don't think we have any old business and reports from staff. Jordan, um before I get into the proposal forms I have attached, um uh Ava wanted me to
bring up if anyone would be willing to or if the commission would be willing to do a community craft at the Holly Jolly night. Um if so, yeah, just let kind of same deal. let us know what it would be and we can take it from there. So, what's the date?
I don't have my calendar in front of me. I'm sorry. I don't know. I do remember that I wasn't available because it's like a weekend. I popped the popcorn last year. That was fun. For someone who hasn't been in the town
super long, can you explain what this like holly jolly night is? I don't think I am the best person cuz I have I was there. I was there. I was there. Uh, okay. So, we go to Casey Lake Park. Mhm. Ava rents a movie and has somebody play
it in the thing in the park building. Somebody dresses up as Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. Do you know who that is? I think it's like a norm like a resident guy. Do you know who he is? Then the mayor comes for real. And the kids get she had someone cater
hot cocoa last year which was really cute. And then she rented a popcorn machine from Haney Rental and I did the popcorn and that was really fun. And oh, and they had a bonfire out in the front. So the fire department was there with a like they make really I don't think they did it at Casey. They used to do it at
Howy Park where they would make like a 20 foot bonfire which was so cool. But they just do like a baby one and then yeah, a little fire and some church came and sang Christmas carols which church I don't know. That's
I mean I like it more non What is it when it's not non- denominational? Thank you. Secular. Secular. That's the word I was looking for. All right, there we go. Whatever. It'sable. It's not my event. I I just popped. But do you have any recollection of like
what month that happened in? Like it was in December. It was like the first weekend of December. It is Friday. Two months to figure it out. It is Friday, December 6th from 5:00 pm to 9:30 p.m. Okay. Oh, wait. That was last year. Oh,
but assume it's the same weekend. Yeah, it is this year. It's the first week of December. It was on the little cards that we were passing out at the all roundup parade. December 5th. December 5th. Okay. December 5th. I will be busy.
I will be working an in-person event for work. God, you work too much. I know. Why are we scheduling all our fun like sing? You missed the parade. I did. But you be so glad you missed that parade. But I had fun. I enjoyed the parade.
I ran through that parade. How did it go for you? Well, I got I found out I could still run. I can't. Well, um yeah, we were The cars were moving fast. Yeah, we were booking it. Uh
those bags disintegrated. I'm so sorry, Jordan. It was just like, okay, guess we have no bags. Okay. Well, oh, do we want to do an event then? Or do we want to do an art craft? I don't think so. I won't be available. We don't have enough people available. Okay.
Can I make that executive decision? You're the vice chair boss. I can bring that back to Ava. Thank you. Um and then the next thing um I have attached two project proposal forms specifically one for the murals and one for utility boxes kind of a lot
of it's similar to the original ones but there's some you know specific uh tailoring to those um two things. Um if there's anything that jumps out that you have like questions on or um that should you think should be added because I'm definitely was racking my brain trying to think of like the specific uh things
that come up for each of these projects. But yeah, feel free to let me know either now or later through email. I love you, but can we please add another S in commission? Did I not Is there Well, it's North St. Paul Arts
Commission. We're missing the arts and culture piece and then commission needs a second S. I'm sorry. I am this person. You know, that's fair. That's fair. This is what it's for. I'm I will be honest though. Ken added that. So, I should have caught it, but I'm going to blame
Ken for now. Yeah. So, um on the utility box proposal form, would this be for us to complete and turn in to you all? So, um, may I request a change and instead of us, um,
proposing a location to get a new list of possible locations that we would be able to use, um, because there are a lot of utility box, it'd be nice to know which ones are
appropriate for wrapping. Um, but I I would like a little I'd like a little control and so I can because like with the Veterans Park Yeah. that was not on any kind of list. We just said, "Yeah, let's do one for the Veterans Park." And then I just took
pictures of all of them and got suggestions as to which ones would be the best and that sort of thing. So once it's time to like amend it if there's one that we really want to do, but it would be nice to have like a a short list of 10 or something that
prime locations to start with. I can look into that. I think it's we're both having going to have difficulties like figuring out the locations part because there is so many and um I think I was trying to avoid a scenario like
what happened with the heart hands. um it just kind of got like passed up like the electric director was the one who made that list but then those special considerations of it being in like a residential area wasn't necessarily shown to Brian and that's the one who
he's the one who brought that up. Um, so I do think like on an individual basis boxes are going to I think the safest thing is for them to be reviewed, but I think potentially I we can meet in the middle where like I like how I saw like the car show one you wanted uh utility
box on 7th if you guys could maybe give us do you think it would work if we gave like a general area or like one of the parks and like then we can go create a list for that or because I know parks does that make sense? Does that make it sense? Yeah. Or even if you have like maybe um
someone on the city planning committee would have like a map of colorcoded dots of where utility boxes are so that Sharon and I could sit down and like look at where we'd hope to have placement and then fill this out and request one. Oh, I like that because then you can
make sure there's an even distribution. Yeah. I don't know if that exists, but I would hope so. I would have to look into it. I feel like most of the time when you think that there's a map for everything that doesn't exist, but I can definitely look into it.
I'm thinking there is not one, but um I don't know everything just cuz I'm 100. Sharon, we just walk around. It's only three square miles. But I can definitely look into the idea
of creating a new like short list. Um I think yeah, this is just going to be a work in progress. Um, like I said, since this is like the same thing that happened with the last one, I was trying to avoid that issue. But yeah, I definitely I think it's going to require some discussion with for me with the electric director, public works, and
Brian potentially um about those spe because there's the basic stuff of like the physical condition of the box. That's an easy one to say yes, that works. when it comes to like special considerations, like I think from my understanding from the city manager is that's kind of a case-
by case basis, like he'll know it when he sees it. Um, so I can definitely give I think a list of boxes in good condition is definitely something that can be done. When it comes to like the more complicated stuff, I think that's going to have to be case by case, but yeah, definitely starting point. I can
look into that. I think that would be helpful. Anything else about the forms? Okay. Anything about the budget and events calendar? Nope. Not for me. Anybody?
All right. Move on to section 10, reports from commissioners. Uh, Amanda, you got anything? Uh, my final art fair for the year, well, before holiday stuff is this coming weekend in Still Water. Oh, great. Exciting.
I think I saw something about that like cuz they're having a a shuttle service from somewhere, right? It must be. Is it downtown or where is it? It's on the river. On Okay. Yeah. In LOL Park. So yeah, Still Water ends up with a lot of parking issues and
they're having a trolley running from I forget which locations cuz I don't take it. But yeah, Rivertown Fall Art Festival the weather holds out for you. What's that? This weekend you said yes. Saturday and Sunday 90 degrees be warmer than
Yeah. fall. Sharon, you got anything? I do not. Carrie? Yeah, I got two things. It's fall, which means um it's time for the uh 622 Education Foundation silent auction. And I am so grateful to the city of North
St. Paul for donating two fantastic items to this year's auction. We have a tour of the public works department and a tour of the fire department where you can try to like squirt hoses and do other fire things. So get ready, Eliza. Bidding is going to open in November.
So, um, this is our one fundraiser of the year for the foundation. I volunteer on that along with Troy and I'm very proud of the work we do there. We also have our, um, it is an election or a voting year, I guess. So, there is a bid
up for uh, school board chair and then there is another levy ask for district 622, which is where my son goes, which is where UN goes. So, if you're interested in supporting the future of our community, I would please encourage you to vote yes twice on the ballot November 4th. Thanks.
Thanks, Carrie. Liz, you got anything? No. But I do want to say that I invited some friends to the Autumn Arts Festival and they said they've been to a lot in the cities and they said this one was so wonderfully done and it was one of the
best ones they've been to this year. So, I just wanted to share that on. Somebody told me he thought it was like the North St. Paul version of the Uptown Arts Festival. I was like, damn. Okay. Laura,
I went to my first Renaissance fair. Oh, wow. And it was amazing. Um, I did not go in costume, but Rowan had to be in costume. Um, we actually showed up in one and she changed in the parking lot to a different one, so
options. But it was so neat to be um with a bunch of theater kids essentially. Um but just people performing and you know everything we want out of our autumn arts festival, everything we want out of all the events that we do where it's just like music being made and art being made and you're
just surrounded by it and it was a really neat experience. So cool. Yay. Minnesota. Raquel, you got anything? No, nothing new with me. You had any updates from you? Yeah. Great. Okay. So,
all right. First, I'd say was last week was homecoming week. One of the most stressful weeks for me cuz I was in charge of the pepfest we had. Mhm. I heard it was amazing. I liked the pepfest. I liked how it
turned out. But the planning for it, the script was like the most painful part cuz it wasn't just like what they were going to say. it was who was going to show up, uh, who was going to perform, and I guess it was really all fault of miscommunication with student council
cuz I ended up going to the assistant principles, advisers for clubs, president of clubs, just so I could get it worked out. And then on the day before the pep fest, I spent an hour and a half inside the activities director's office, I guess, kind of arguing,
discussing. he's watching this meeting. I'm just joking. You're my best friend. And I also went to my first schoolboard meeting as student rep. Oh my god. Yeah. Thank you. It was It was nice.
Yeah. Uh I guess I was a bit unprepared cuz I was mostly planning the script. And yeah. Uh what else was I going to say? I kind of forgot. Uh that's pretty much it. Wow. That's great. You sounds like you have pretty full plate.
Yeah, last week. And you're in what grade? 10th grade. 10th grade. Well, good for you. Keep at it. Awesome. All right. I don't have any updates. Uh update from our council leaison, Troy.
Um, I've got nothing really other than uh we already mentioned the uh parade, which I feel like went really well other than the rain and the expedient nature of the parade. Yeah. Um, I understand they wanted to get it over with quick, but you know, it was a
little bit quick. A little bit too quick. Um, other than that, uh, city council hasn't met, but I do know that we've got an offer on the student built house over by John Glenn. Okay. I think, um, so, um, I think we're still
looking into that and we're still looking into the contract for the next student built program through uh, St. Paul College. And there's a a new person took that over, right? Because didn't the original guy retire?
Yeah. So that used to be through Century College. Yeah. Okay. Um the guy that kind of organized it from Century College and taught the program and everything. It was what is the program through North where some 916? Yeah. Um so it was through that program. So it
was high school students. So it was only you know an hour couple hours a day that they would come and then it was you know different students and different students. Um so the thought with this is he so he retired so the program kind of died with him there. Um we're trying to
coordinate with uh St. Paul College because they had an interest in doing it and the nice thing there is that it would um be dedicated college students who this is their focus. Yeah. You know um so that's the goal. We're
still working on the contract. Um, and part of it would be the sale of the house would part of it would come back to us, but part of it would go back to the college to help fund scholarships and stuff for the school, too. Okay. Would there still be a chance for working out the details? I'm sorry, Troy. Would there still be a
chance for um 916 kids to get involved? Those who want to go into the trades locally? Unfort because because of the coordination through uh college. Okay. Yeah. And so is that like going through like the carpentry program or is it just
like construction? I think it's all the trades. They do everything. Um because I know they involve like the interior design. Oh, plumbing. They came in and like laid out like what the countertops are going to look out. So they probably have like a general for
the program. So yeah, they try to involve everybody. Cool. Um, I didn't get a chance to go through. I know a couple weeks back they had the open house for the um for the house. I didn't get a chance to go, but I've heard, you know, rave reviews about how it turned out and how
it looks and everything. So cool. And where are those? Well, my gosh, words. It is 7:30, guys. Um, and where's the location of the new house that they're thinking about doing it? Um, as of right now, I think the um location
I think the location that we're looking at is on Five Corners. Um, there's like an alleyway empty lot kind of thing there. So, kind of like up on the hill. Yeah, at the top of the hill. Okay.
I am home. Was there like talk of like doing like a park there or something or maybe like There was So um in the park art the parks commission one of
their recommendations was to do a park um there's the triangle park downtown. There's that and then the Mcnite Fields and then there was talk about doing a park on that street on the wooded area. Um, so further down the hill would be a
park and um I think it was more of a a natural park with like sculptures, like climbable sculptures kind of thing. Um, and then further up the hill, not at the top of the hill, but up towards the top of the hill would be they talked about doing different things like a dog
park or could they do a, you know, a little far like a community garden kind of thing. Um, I don't know what came of that. So, What happened to that guy who was at last year's autumn arts festival and took all that input and feedback and we did all that post-it note stuff and it's
like what do you want to see in a park? Do you remember what I'm talking about? Yes. Oh, shoot. That's right. Tony recommendation. Oh, it went to recommendation. I think it went into that recommendation and the recommendation was for those
three well four projects, three parks. one Mcnite Fields was be two projects, but then the project downtown here and then the project on third. Yeah, it's on the corner of Third and 7th. Yeah, it's right across from the
M&I homes. Yeah. When would that happen? It's already staked out right now. Oh, it is. They've already cleared the trees where the house is planted and things like that. some but I think they're all gone said until
we get a contract sign, you know, worked out with uh St. Paul College. Okay. Anything else for Troy? If not, you know what time it is. Party time. Time for a motion to adjourn.
I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second, Sharon Raquel. All in favor say I. I meeting is adjourned. Whatever