Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm calling to order this truth and taxation public hearing for the 2026 property tax levy and the 2025 revised and 2026 proposed budget and proposed 2026
utility rates. It's November 25th, 2025 and it's 6:31 p.m. So tonight's meeting is to go over the local budget levy, the local budget and levy so the public can have input before we do our final vote
on December 9th. Um this is one part of the process and before we be we begin that I want to mention three other pieces of that process. One thing that a lot of people are not aware of is the state of Minnesota has a special
Minnesota homeowners homestead credit refund. So, if um I'm going to just publicize that when you're doing your taxes next year, if you owned or lived in the same home on January 2nd, 2024 and January 2nd, 2025,
your home's net property tax increased more than 12% from 24 to 25 and the net property tax increase was at least $100 and the increase was not because of improvements you made on the property,
you can apply for this special refund from the state of Minnesota. And from what I understand, a lot of people just leave that money on the table and don't apply for it. So, I wanted to make sure people were aware of that. Um, a second part of this is in the spring, if you
think that your assessed value of your home or your property was too high, you can go to the open book um session and you can go through a process to contest your assessment and to the county about trying to get the assessment changed.
Finally, there are other taxing jurisdictions that also have truth and taxation hearings like this one. Um the Henipin County one is on December 2nd. Um the school district one is December 1st and the Metro Special Taxing
District for the Metropolitan Council is on December 3. So I would um just wanted to make sure people were aware of those other parts of the process. So, at this point, um, I'm going to start our truth and
taxation hearing. At the September 23rd, 2025 city council meeting, the city council adopted the 2026 preliminary property tax levy and announced November 25th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. as the date and
time for the statutory truth and taxation public hearing. Henipin County mailed the proposed 2026 property statements to property owners in Richfield. And the property tax statements are based upon the proposed levy and an and and announce the date of
the public hearings. So, at this point, I'm going to turn it over to staff to present some information. Then, we will open up the public hearing and allow people to give us input. And then after that, there will after the public
hearing closed, there will be we'll have to schedule the final action which at this point was will probably be probably probably be December 9th. So at this point I'm going to turn it over to staff um city manager Rodriguez. Thank you mayor. So tonight we have a brief
presentation for you and uh that'll be our budget cash and debt manager Steve McDaniel. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Steve McDaniel, the budget cash and debt manager for the city of Richfield, and I'm here to present the
2026 budget as part of the truth and taxation meeting. Uh this next slide looks at a timeline of uh the key events. Um, the city council had a work session on August 12th, uh, which that's where we went
over a 2026 budget preview, the key financial strategies document, which is abbreviated KFS, the utility rates and city fees, as well as the 2026 capital improvement budget and um, abbreviated
CIB and the 2027 to 2030 capital improvement plan, which is abbreviated CIP. The next step was on August 26, there was a another work session and this is where um the directors of departments presented their 2025 revised
budgets as well as their 2026 proposed budgets. On as mentioned on September 23rd, the city council adopted the preliminary tax levy. And here we are today for the truth and taxation uh meeting followed by as mentioned uh
previously two weeks from today um the city council will certify the the final levy adopt the budget and the CIBC CIP. So there are um some budget updates that are incorporated into the 2025 revised budget as well as the 2026 proposed
budget. Um, as mentioned at at previous um truth and taxation meetings, the labor force participation continues to remain below prepandemic levels. Um, incorporated into the 2026 proposed budget is a cost of living increase at
3% with a average step increases at 2.75% and average negotiated contract step increases between 3% and 5.5%. Uh, which uh in includes salary and
benefits continues to be approximately 71% of the general fund budget and that is consistent in 2026 as it was in 2025 as well. We also wanted to highlight the debt issues planned for late 2025 um that will be funded with local sales
tax and those are the projects at the Wood Lake Nature Center. There is $1 million um in local sales tax bonds as well as $5 million in um the Vets Park project uh also funded with local sales tax bonds and we'll hear more about
those projects uh later tonight at the regular city council meeting for debt issues planned uh for late 2026. Again, there will be local sales tax funded projects. the remaining $4 million for the Veterans Park project as well as uh
Henipin Avenue reconstruction uh project that is related to utilities and property tax bonds. And finally, uh continued inflationary pressure is expected to persist into 2026. So, we do have uh some budget updates
continuing on this tab. Um 2026 local government aid or abbreviated LGA remains almost flat. increasing by uh just under $38,000. It's important to note that in um 2024, the local government aid did increase by um I
believe $1.3 million, and we'll see that on the next slide. So, since the uh the legislature in 2023 um had a a large LGA increase, the LGA increases in subsequent years in 25 and 26 have remained pretty stable. Um the 2026
fiscal disparity aid is increasing by 3% or a total of $134,500 over 2025. Back in 2025, the fiscal disparities had increased um over $975,000 when compared to 2024. So, the increase
uh that we're expecting in 2026 is not as large as it was um in 2025. Licenses and permits revenue for 26 is projected to be similar to the 25 revised and 24 actual. So again, a revenue category that is remaining pretty flat. Uh the rolling stock
building and technology levy is set at just under $1.7 million. So that is a 3.5% increase over 2025. And there we're also adding this year um $100,000 to uh building maintenance,
which is a a new amount this year in order to continue to maintain city buildings. The economic development authority levy is at $645,000 um which is about a 3.5% increase which leads to this overall proposed levy
increase of 6.16%. Um in addition so this is the city levy there is also the housing rehabilitation authority that has a levy that is at 3%. So when we combine the H levy into the city levy of 6.16% that gives us an
actual number of 6.08%. So this is uh what I alluded to on the previous slide, the local government aid. You'll see between 23 and 24 there is that large jump of 1.35 million and since uh 2024 um 2025 and 2026 have uh
received some increases but relatively flat at that point. Um, one item I did want to mention um related to the city's levy on this previous slide was that uh when comparing uh the city of Richfield to um all cities across the state um we've
received information that the average levy increase um statewide is anticipated be uh the proposed levy is 8.7%. So you'll see the city of Richfield coming in to a overall net amount of 6.08% 8% is lower than the overall average
statewide. In addition, for Henipin County cities, the uh the average levy increase is 9.3%. So again, Richfield is coming in uh below that uh average. This next slide looks at the uh long-term capital reserves and the 2024
uh ending balance in the long-term capital reserves is $7.1 million. There are budgeted transfers in 2025 and 2026 related to the long-term capital reserves. Um those particular amounts end up being $365,000
for the ice arena and $200,000 for Central Garage, which gives us the $565,000 transfer amount. In 2026, the uh transfer to the Ice Arena is $370,000 and the transfer to Central Garage is
$160,000. This will give us a projected balance at the end of 26 of just over $6 million in the long-term capital reserves. It's also important to note uh at the very bottom of this slide that the overall uh
general fund reserves are just over $12 million and that is the uh number 12,28,000 $82 that uh is shown up in the um 2024 uh annual comprehensive financial report the the city's audit that was published
on September 30th. So, the forecast of city reserves, uh, there are planned capital reserves transfers since 2021 to bring negative reserves in the ice arena and pool back into the positive amounts by 2028. And
so far, the pool uh had a positive ending balance in 2024 of just over $200,000. The city has reduced the transfers to the general fund to zero in 2024 and uh in years 2025 and
the budgeting surplus to fund the general fund that we'll see on um further slides. They'll show up in the expenditure sections where we capture the uh the the funds related to the general fund reserve. The city has a policy of having the reserves at 40%. Um and that will happen in 2025 as well as
it's planned to happen again in 2026 which will help to stop future transfers from the long-term capital reserve fund. Lastly, as mentioned on this slide, the 2026 rolling stock equipment and IT levy increase of three and a half% plus that
additional $100,000 to buildings uh to maintain city buildings. So here's the overall um numbers as we've seen this 6.16% the general fund levy is set at about 25 point is proposed to be 25.5 million.
the equipment levy, which includes again the building, um that's the rolling stock and the technology is just under $1.7 million. Again, that's a three and a half% increase from 2025 plus the 100,000 for buildings. The economic development authority levy at just over
three and a half% ends up being $645,000, which gives us the base levy total of just under $28 million. The debt service levy is $3.9 million, which gives us this overall proposed 2026 levy of
31,749,380, which again is a 6.16% increase or when including the HR uh 6.08% increase. Here's a look at the uh general fund levy history uh year-over-year since
2019. And and what you'll see on this slide is that the overall um levy increase has been in a range of anywhere between 4.87 87% um back in 2019 to as high as in 2023 6.60%.
Again, the 6.16% is the proposed levy for 2026. This is what the impact on the average Richfield home uh is proposed to be. Um per Henipin County, the average home in the city of Richfield is $319,000
is the property value. In 2026, that proposed average home value has increased to $327,000. Uh looking specifically on at the Richfield city tax, the the average Richfield city tax on that home would be
$1,825 when compared to in 2025 the city tax was $1,743. This is an increase of $82 for the year. Again, those are the city of Richfield
numbers. Um, so the city of Richfield property tax is proposed to be about an $82 impact. There's also uh utility rates that uh will increase then as well related to the water fees, the wastewater fees and the storm water fees. So that's uh combined the utility
fees are an additional $40 which um plus the $82 property tax increase is $122 for the year. So here's a slide that shows the overall general fund budget. So previously we talked about the overall total levy and looking at the overall general fund
expenditures uh are anticipated to be 7.35% increase from the 2025 adopted budget. Um and the when comparing the 2026 proposed budget to the 2025 revised
budget uh there is an increase of 7.16%. These percentages typically end up being higher than the overall levy increase uh related to if there are grant expenditures. Those show up in the general fund grant expenditures but there's also offsetting then uh uh grant
reimbursement. So the the grant reimbursements uh help to uh offset those expenditures and so that's why we have to show those expenditures but uh this number typically is higher than the overall levy increase. This is a look at the uh overall general
fund budget expenditure history since 2019 um with an average increase of 5.25% again this year in 2026. This increase from the previous slide for expenditures is over 7% but again as it relates to those uh grant expenditures and grant
reimbursements that's why this number tends to be higher than the levy increase. So, here's a look at the general fund revenues by each specific category. Uh, for the 2025 revised versus the 2025 adopted budget, there is an increase in
revenues of um 56,538. And then what we'll see for the 2026 proposed budget again is this overall increase um related to the general fund of 7.35%. Here's a pie chart that uh shows those
overall percentage increases or percentages um as a category of the overall general fund budget. And these percentages are typically these categories remain pretty similar. You'll see that taxes has increased by 1% licenses and permits has decreased by 1%
but overall um bearing 25 to 26 the overall percent about the same. So for general fund expenditures it's important to for the 25 revised budget uh versus the 25 adopted budget. You will see the bottom line there. There is an increase
of roughly that $56,000 number that ties to revenues. Um one important note here is the 40% fund balance reserve line has increased by um $350,000. So essentially um expenditures if you ignore the fund balance reserve
at the bottom expenditures have decreased versus what was by about $300,000. If we then add in that $56,000 where revenues are exceeding uh 2025 adopted revenues, that ends up being
this difference which needs to net to the bottom line which goes to the fund balance reserve. So while this uh there is an increase here, it's actually that expenditures have decreased. It's just that offset goes to the fund balance reserve. And again for 2026 um we'll see
that 7.35% uh overall increase here then. So similar to the uh revenue pie chart here's the uh expenditures by each category and in particular by each department and overall when comparing
2026 to 2025 the overall percentages that make up the overall general fund budget. A lot of these percentages are pretty pretty similar to each other. There's in recreational 1% public works a 1% change and um community development a 1% change as well. Um I think on this
previous slide I also wanted to comment on the uh paid family medical leave which is shown uh there's a $115,000 amount there and that amount is to comply with the 2026 state of Minnesota paid family medical leave law and the
city of Richfield will be in compliance with that uh new state law that takes effect January 1st 2026. So there are some staffing updates uh incorporated into the 25 revised and 26 proposed budgets and um there are two full-time FTEs being added, one in the
finance department and one in the public works department. There are some uh part-time additions then as well. One is just uh through the end of 2025 and administrative services and there is a part-time uh communication cable TV um
FT parttime FT that is in place till September 26. That leads to the 2026 proposed capital budget of uh just under $22 million. The first project to highlight would be um
there's uh a total of 6.725 million in recreation and open spaces. And as we'll discuss in the regular city council meeting, um there's $1 million in local sales tax to the Woodlake Nature Center as well as 5 million to the Veterans Park complex. Again, those two projects
are related to local sales tax. Uh fleet vehicle purchases. That number for 2026 is proposed to be just under $1.7 million. There is uh the uh Nicola Avenue reconstruction project which is will be funded by both property tax
bonds as well as utility bonds and that will happen at the end of 2026. There are some sidewalk projects as well as the safe routes to school projects incorporated in the proposed capital budget. sanitary sewer lining as well as the rehab of the storm water
infrastructure. And the last project to highlight are improvements at the water treatment plant. And the final slide on the proposed capital budget is that the uh total cost of uh fleet equipment is anticipated to be a little more than 1.6 million. The
actual number is $1,664,730. Part of that is funded through the general tax levy which this was a roughly 3% increase um from 2025 and the remaining amount is funded by internal user fees which are chargebacks to each
department that has uh that is related to the food purchases done. So uh this concludes the uh the presentation on the truth and taxation and I'm happy to answer any questions that the council may have. >> Thank you. Are there any questions from
the council? Then I'm going to go ahead and open up the public hearing. Any resident wishing to participate in the public hearing, please proceed to the podium one at a time. We have some cards we've been collecting, I'll call those people up first. And if you didn't fill out a
card, then you can just fill out the form up there. Council will hear your comment. If you would like staff to follow up, please include your name and phone number or email on the located at the podium. To ensure everyone has time to speak, each comment will be limited to about three minutes
in length. And so I don't have to like interrupt you. I'm going to just hold up a warning sign when your time is about up. Um, as a reminder to residents, this public hearing is time for the council to listen but not respond during your testimony. So if you ask questions, they
may be addressed as part of the council discussion on the issue later in the meeting or will follow up after the meeting. So with that, we'll open the public hearing and I have a card here for Kathleen Baliban.
>> Mayor, if I could just clarify, will Miss Biban come up? I just wanted to ask a question of the mayor. Um, we will delay the start of our council meeting to cure all public comment. Right. >> Yes. That was my intention was to make sure everybody had a chance to speak. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> We have a she but no pen. Oh, my apologies. Thank you. Thank you very much. As as mentioned, my name is Kathleen Baliban and I do have my Henipin County tax uh proposed taxes and I just did a
quickie on this Richfield, you know, between these two uh meaning 25 and 26 and it's a 8% increase on my taxes. My tax value total is I have a 23.6 increase between 25 and 26. That's a lot
of money. That's a huge increase. 23.6. Now, I recognize that I can go to these other places and talk about it. But 8% on mine. Now, one of the things that I handed to you was compensation. No, I
asked the records department for 23 and 24 and I have not received it yet. But this speaks to what I call as a variable fixed expense. Everybody, everybody that knows anything about accounting, we have fixed and variable expenses and
compensation on average is a fixed because we need employees. I'd like you to look at this and then look at the budgets and look at the what they're saying that they need more employees. you know, I haven't gotten 24 and 23 in here, but that's a lot of
money and that's a big difference in number of staff versus the amount of money. You know, back in 20 I came here in 2017, but if we look at 2018 and 2019, the staff stayed the same, but the increase went up 729,000
for compensation. And then when you go from 2018 to 2022, we drop 25 staff members, but we go up 2,777,000. That's a lot of money. That means we're either overstaffed or underutilizing
something. In other words, we're spending a lot of money on the top end of our staff and very little money on the bottom end where our our actual people are doing the work. the people that go out on the streets and mow the lawns and shovel the walks. So, we have
a discrepancy, a big discrepancy in managing staff and managing the compensation associated with that staff because that's a variable that's actually a fix. But there's a problem here and the numbers speak for themselves. So, if we look at the fact
that in the presentation 71% of the general fund is compensation, my property taxes are in there paying this compensation. I'm asking you to really look at the budgets, look at the management, and look at how many people
we have and what we're doing with them because I believe I'm not always serviced with what I'm paying for. But I thank you guys for what you do. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um I don't have any other um cards, but if anybody else wishes to speak, you can
go sign in and have three minutes. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? Um, go ahead, ma'am. >> Do I have to sign in first or can I sign in later? >> Um, either way, but when you before you start talking, just tell us your name and that you live in Richfield.
>> Well, good evening, mayor and council members and fellow citizens of Richfield. I'm here to talk about two things. the property tax increases and also the amount of rentals that exist in my neighborhood. I've been a resident of Richfield for 32 years. I hope I can
stay into my retirement. >> Ma'am, could you state your name for the record? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Janet Massa, Massa. Sorry about that. Um I'm surprised that the room is not filled about this because for instance
we're we're seeing at our home a 12.9% increase in the last six years our property taxes and this is also reflective not only of the total property taxes for everybody who gets their part of us Henipin County
and and so forth but for the city of Richfield in six years time we are seeing a 54 24% tax increase. Our property taxes are now just below $7,000. Um, if this should if this trend should
continue six years from now, our property taxes will be over $10,000. And needless say, I don't have $1,000 a month to set aside in my budget on a teacher's pension to continue to live in Richfield.
Um, I know that there's many different places we pay our taxes and the city of Richfield is the highest. I love the city of Richfield services. We are plowed very quickly. Um, I can't complain about any of it, but and I know
life costs, but I don't want to be priced out of staying in this neighborhood that I moved into 32 years ago and could afford, and I'm finding it not able to stay. The other thing I see happening on our block is we are up to six rental homes
on our block and they're increasing. And I think why that's happening is the rental corporations are out bidding the regular single family homeowner because the prices are getting so high and the taxes so high
and there are no restrictions on the amount of rentals which I know there should be rental homes. I am all for it. I'm all for the greater good. I'm certainly a Democrat. But when there are six rentals on your block alone and they keep no one's
putting improvements into those houses, the folks aren't staying. Um, you never know who your neighbor is. I think that down the road we really got to look at let's have rentals, but let's also do this with um some regulation. It it
really needs to happen because our neighborhood is just starting to go downhill and there's no reason for it. Okay, I've got 30 seconds. I guess I'm wrapping up. Um anyway, something's got to give about property taxes. I cannot afford $7,000
next year and I certainly can't afford 10,000 in six years. Um, our city of Richfield taxes have gone up in the last five years by $2,000. Okay. So, just to or 200%, I should say,
over $1,000 in a fiveyear period to the city of Richfield. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? um you can sign in and then state your name and that you live in the city
of Ridgefield and you'll have three minutes once you get started. Uh first off, I just want to say I'm very impressed with these women that they took the time to come and speak their truth. And um not to be uh on the opposite side of the coin, but I own a
home and I live in the home and I do short-term rental. Um, I have a hundred-year-old home that was falling apart when I >> Could you >> My name is >> Nicholas Vterberg and I live on 18th. Um, and uh, I love hearing the perspective and I'm grateful that you
guys have the opportunity. I have just a small prepared statement. Um, good evening, Mayor Supple, council, members, my and my neighbors. Um, my name is Nicholas Vterberg. I'm proud to call Richfield my home. I eat my burgers at Frenchman's. I pick up my groceries
at La Vakita and I get my taxes done over on 66th at Tonsagger. Uh I know what it means to live in the city because I love it and I really hope to continue to love it. I also happen to run short-term rentals. For me, it's not a business empire. It's just a way to keep up with the rising cost of living
while keeping my property well-maintained and welcoming. Uh no one I know that is doing short-term rental is getting rich. Not one person. No one's doing it because they're wealthy. In fact, uh they're teachers and retirees and
parents and people who have found uh a small way to make ends meet while helping others experience Richfield. That's why I am asking that the proposed $700 licensing fee, 10 times what over 10 times what Minneapolis's and other
cities are uh saying is their fee. Uh that's three car payments right when the holidays are due. It's, you know, like again, if you think it's some, you know, crazy corporation that's running this, it's not. It's people. And it's it's not
just a number. It's the difference between staying open and closing quietly. Most of us won't go out without a protest. We'll just stop. No one will know. Not in a dramatic way, but just in a whimper. The fair and reasonable path forward for me is simple. To align short-term rental licenses with the existing long-term rental licenses of
$190. That keeps things consistent and achievable for everyone. Katie Rodriguez was kind enough to share polling data with me. Uh and that data suggests that one less than one half of 1% of residents have any issue with short-term rentals.
Obviously, we could say the same thing about, you know, the issues that people have with police and 99.99% of the interactions are positive, but unfortunately, it's the ones that are negative that get the most attention. I'm here. My name's Nick. I grew up in Elk River. I live here now. I've always
wanted to live in Richfield because I love to travel and and the airport always kind of attracted me. Um, and I just my proposal is that uh an actual not voluntary but an enforced 1% lodging tax that the city actually follows
through. The information that I've gotten from the council has said, "Oh, we just couldn't figure it out. We just got to figure it out. We want to be partners with the city. We want to partners with our neighbors. If you come to my hundred-year-old home, you will see that I put a ton of money into this
place and uh I I I want to be a part of Richfield. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? Good evening. My name is Rhonda Amenson. My husband and I and our family have
been in Richfield for 32 years. Um, we enjoy the city very much, but we also are concerned with the tax increases steadily going up and up. Um, we are we have paid for our house, but we're feeling now like we have an additional
house payment just so that we can pay our property taxes. And we also have had like one other mentioned we our taxes as the proposed for this year would be over a 12% increase just for the city taxes. So my suggestion would be that we get
more creative with how we raise money. Um if we make Richfield a city where people want to be, we can create more income just by having more businesses come in. we can generate income in a way
that doesn't impact our our residents so greatly. Um, we're taxing people out and if we continue to do this, we aren't going to be able to call ourselves a city with affordable housing because the housing, we might get a price on a house that's
affordable, but then we are taxing them out if we have increases so high each and every year. I don't think we can continue this way and still be a viable community where people can live and stay and retire. And I think that's what a
lot of us would like to do. So, I ask you to consider just being creative with some ideas, asking more businesses to get involved in our city so that we have a stronger tax base from our businesses so we don't have to rely so heavily on
our individual homeowners because most of us are here because we love the city and we want to stay here, but we want to be able to afford to stay here as well. So, I thank you very much for your work and um yeah, I just ask
that you get a little creative, see if we can do something different. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? Can you step by the microphone so they can hear me? >> Okay. Hi, I'm Brenda Litkkey. I've lived
in Root Shield with my husband for the past eight and a half years. We moved here because it was affordable. Um, we've also seen our taxes steadily increase and they reiterate what everybody else has set up here. Um, we're worried about being taxed out
eventually. We would love to live here, retire here. Um, our taxes have gone up 43% in the time we've been here. That's,000 plus dollars, $1,500 extra that we have to come up with. Yes,
obviously there's inflation. There's rising costs. Um, you see in your budget the different items, but I would ask the council to think about ways to keep Richfield affordable. That is important to us. We're not Minneapolis. We're not
a dino. We're not the other cities. We're a city that people can afford um to be in their houses. And even though my property value has gone up, that doesn't help me because I'm planning on staying in my house, not selling it. So, just having a higher value of my house
that increases my tax base that I pay higher taxes um makes it really challenging for me to about how I'm going to budget, how I'm going to pay for these taxes when I'm a retiree on a fixed income. Um, so I just wanted to
make my voice heard that even though these small amounts look okay, five, six% year after year, they're really adding up and really becoming a burden. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to
speak? Go ahead. Thank you, city council mayor, for the Thank you, city council and mayor, for the opportunity to speak this evening. Um, just uh just kind of curious. Uh, >> can you state your name?
>> Oh, Joe Stratig. Um, my wife and I have been our in our home for um, 35 years and we really love the city of Richfield. We we call it our hometown and we're just grateful to be
uh living here. When we got our tax um document here, our increase was 17.7%. From 25 to 26. That's that's the greatest it's been um throughout our history and it's it's been significant
significantly greater during this period. I'm just wondering um just curious, you know, to how this was developed and how this is going about. We like everybody else, we love Richfield. This is our home. Um like I say, we've been here for so long. We
want to continue to be here. We're just a little concerned when I see numbers like 17.7% increase. And then the ones in the in the slides, none of those increases were over 10%. So I don't know how those all calculate into when we see one document
at 17.7%. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? Asking one more time if there's anyone else who wishes to speak.
If not, I'll move to close the public hearing. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to close the public hearing. Um, is Council Member Christensen here? >> Then we will She's Since she's here remotely, we have to do a roll call
vote. So, um, City Clerk Friedrich, can you call off the members of the council, please? >> Yes. I'll give uh Council Member Christensen a moment to unmute. Yes, I'm unmuted. Yes. >> Thank you. Okay, we'll begin with the
roll call. Council member Burke. >> This is for closing the public hearing. >> Yes. >> And council member Hayford Deliri. >> Hi, >> Mayor Supple. >> I, >> Council Member Christensen, >> I.
>> And Council Member Coleman Woods, >> I. Thank you. >> All right. So, the public hearing is closed. Um, I'm going to make the motion and then we can have discussion. So, I would move to schedule the final action
on the 2026 property tax levy, the 2025 revised 2026 proposed budget, and the proposed 2026 utility rates at the regular city council meeting scheduled for December
9th, 2025. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Now, we're open for discussion. And I'll just start off by thanking all the people that came in to testify and I appreciate your comments. Um we are looking for
feedback. If you have creative ideas that can help us, we're open to those. We're also conducting an essential um services study to see if there are things if we have to cut something out what we would cut. And so when that um analysis is done in the spring, we're
going to be asking for your input too if there are things that need to be cut as well. So, thank you all for your input and we would encourage you to keep contacting us and if you have ideas, we're open to those. Now, are there other questions or comments that any council members had?
>> Yeah, I would uh fair to say that um while watching my grandmother raise me in our home, um I saw my grandmother struggle to pay her property taxes year after year and ultimately it was me moving in as as a college student to pay rent uh to help her out. And so, do see
where all of us, all of you are coming from and so I hope that we can um that everybody fights for their fair share, what their property taxes should be. Um I know that for years our property taxes went up when we had made no home improvements. So I encourage
everybody to continue to follow through the steps. >> Other comments or questions? Council member Burke, >> I just want to reiterate that in your statements that very clearly states what processes you have and rights you have to challenge your individual assessment
and individual taxes and definitely encourage you to do so. Uh for those of you who stepped up and you were very articulate in how to look at the large situation with that same enthusiasm and articulatess, please bring that energy and effort to your individual situation.
I wish you luck. Council member Hayer Larry. >> Um, yeah, I was gonna say something similar to Council Member Burke, but just as a a reminder to those who talked about their taxes going up significantly higher than the average of the city, like people who are going up 18% when
the increases are much lower, that definitely has to do with your property value as well. So, if you do believe that your property value is inappropriate, you can challenge that for the following year next spring. So, I encourage you to do that if that is the case. Um, broadly though, I I I
sympathize the the situation is just I realize our our levy goes up every year faster, a little bit faster than inflation, a little bit faster than wages go up and it becomes a larger share of your income. Um, as Mayor supple mentioned, we have this essential services study and we're going to try to look at what we can reduce, but the
reality is there's there's nothing the city does that isn't important to somebody and isn't helping somebody's quality of life. So it is necessary to look at those things. But the reality is um as the the presentation showed that the largest expenditures are those things that are so essential to us
operating at snow plows, it's police officers, it's firefighters and those are things that are particularly challenging to cut and those are those are also where most of our money goes. So this is a difficult issue and we recognize the burden it places on all of you. So thank you for coming.
>> Um the question was asked about why If the city is doing say a 6.16% increase, why do individual homeowners have 12% or 18% or 17%. Um, there's a number of factors that go
into that. One of the things that you might want to talk to your state legislators about because they did something about this a couple years ago and maybe they need to do it again is there's a homestead um, credit exclusion. And as the value of your house goes up, you get less and
less of an exclusion. So it may not be that the assessed value that the taxes necessarily went up, but if you get less of an exclusion, then you end up paying more. I don't know if that made sense, but say if we
did a 6% increase, but you lost a big chunk of your exclusion, then the overall amount you pay is going to go up higher. And I think that um phases out at $517,000 for a house, but the closer you get to that, the less of an exclusion you get
and the more you have to pay of the taxes. So that's something you might want to talk to legislators about. A couple years ago, they adjusted that. So that might be something they need to adjust again. Um other things have to do with um how the houses that are selling
in your neighborhood and they look the formula and So, if you've had num people sell out and there's been a bidding war and it went for a high price, then that affects your value of your house as well. So, it's good that you um go to the open book in April and talk to the
assessors and find out what factors are going into it. I went over last year and talked to them and they explained to me exactly what went into why my house was assessed the way it is. Um, but we do encourage you to send your ideas to us.
We're looking at if there's something if there's something we're doing as a program that you don't want us to do anymore and we can cut it out. That's what the essential services programs are. So, we need to know what the priorities what are the things that you think are the most important that we should keep. And if there's something that you think we don't need to be
doing, then you need to tell us that as well. Um, but I would really want to reiterate that if you got more than a 12% increase, as several people testified, then you can look into getting that special fund through the um
department of revenue for when you do your taxes on the property tax relief because it's made for just such those circumstances as those. Are there any other comments or questions? All right. Well, again, thank you
everybody who testified. So, um the motion before us is to schedule the final vote and action on this for the 2026 property tax levy, the 2025 revised, the 2026 proposed budget and the proposed 2026 utility rates at the
regular city council meeting scheduled for December 9th, 2025. Is there any further discussion? >> Council member Christensen, did you have anything you wanted to add? >> No, I'm fine. >> All right. Thank you. So, we have to do a roll call. So, I'll turn it back over
to the clerk and we'll go through that. >> Thank you, Mayor Supple. Uh, we will start the roll call vote with again Council Member Burke. and council member Hayford Deliri. >> Hi, >> Mayor Suppel. >> I, >> Council Member Christensen,
>> I. >> And Council Member Coleman Woods, >> I. >> Thank you. That concludes our vote. Thank you. And then I would entertain a motion to adjourn the truth and taxation hearing. >> I move adjournment. Seconded. >> It's been moved and seconded. And we
It's not something we discussed, but we do have to take the roll call vote. So, we'll go ahead and do that again. Okay, for our final vote for this meeting, it will be council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hayford Deliri. >> Hi. >> Mayor Supple. >> I. >> Council member Christensen.
>> Hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods. >> I. >> Thank you. This concludes our vote. >> All right. And the meeting stands adjourned. >> And we'll give it about two minutes and then we'll start the council meeting. Okay.
So, you're 9 12 A and 12 B. Okay. You're doing 9 12 except now um city clerk Friedri I need the password because my um
screen timed out and I don't have the password. Alt delete. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm calling to order this regular council meeting of the Richfield City Council.
It's November 25th, 2025. It is 7:22 p.m. If you're able, please rise and join us for the pledge of >> allegiance. Thank you. Our first item of business is approval of the agenda. >> I move approval of the agenda with the
removal of item 7B, which is a request from staff. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. So, it's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda and to pull item 7B off of the consent calendar and move
that down to item eight. Is there any discussion? All right. Then, um, since Council Member Christensen is joining us remotely, we have to do a roll call vote. So, all in favor of approving the agenda, we'll let the clerk go through
the roll call. >> Sounds good. We'll begin our roll call vote with council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hayford. >> Hi. >> Mayor Supple. >> I. >> Council member Christensen. >> Hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods. >> I. >> Thank you.
>> All right. The agenda has been approved. Our next item is approval of the minutes from the work session meeting from November 12th, 2025, the regular city council meeting from November 12th, 2025. and the special meeting from November 15, 2025.
>> Also move. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right. So, we'll call the role. Council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hay Liry. >> Hi.
>> Mayor Sel. I. >> Council member Christensen. Hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods. Thank you. >> Next, we'll move on to the open forum. Participants can share their comments in person, by voicemail or email, and may
also request to participate virtually. For more information on submitting comments, refer to the council agenda and minutes page on richfieldm.govcity council. Is there anyone who wishes to speak to the open forum tonight? You would have three minutes and we'd follow
the same procedure we did during the public hearing. Did we receive any comments ahead of time? >> I did not receive any comments. >> Okay. I'm asking again. Um sir, did you want to if you want to speak again, you can have another three minutes. So just
state your name and >> I apologize. I didn't the other meeting was this one. I thought this was the other meeting. Um, to be very clear from what I've been told about specifically short-term rental is that many short-term rental operators do not comply with a voluntary
tax and that the amount of money that has been taken from short-term rental is small because of that. I I don't know how cities actually work with states and then work with like big companies, but if you just made sure the tax wasn't
voluntary, you would create a tremendous, you know, I mean 1% of that business would be good. you have, you know, just and I've talked to many council members and it doesn't seem like they fully understand short-term rental that Minneapolis is limited to one per
person that Edina it's illegal in Bloomington it's uh because of the the hotel lobbies. It's also they've rendered it you can't have any. And I like that people should be able to do what they want with their own homes. I also am for not having these
corporations come in and buy up these houses for long-term rental or short-term rental. I like people that are living in their homes and then they rent out a room. But when you put on a $700 licensing fee, the person who's trying to make a couple thousand dollar to help pay their taxes is now not going
to be able to afford that. And this is an opportunity to both help that person that's trying to live in Richfield and be honest about the rising cost of living and help these people who feel like their cost of living is going up potentially by hey we're just making
more money as a city. Um because the the people that I know are like me middle class people who are just business owners trying to uh bring revenue to the city I guess and to I mean you know my property tax
weirdly went down for some reason and I don't know I couldn't fully understand why that is. I think it's because on my block there are I believe I I don't know this for sure but I believe there are halfway houses andor section 8 housing something like that because the the
properties that sold around me sold for less than what they were valued on let's say Zillow or whatever. So I know that you guys do a tremendously complicated thing and Mayor Stubble and your staff and all of the city councilmen have been very generous to me with their
information back. Um, but that simple note of the amount of money that you guys are taking from short-term rental if again the ex I don't want to call it excuse but the explanation was that you couldn't like Airbnb or Verbbo wasn't
getting back to you. I feel like as the city it is your job to talk to your state repres or whoever and make sure that that 1% tax so that people feel like hey these guys are paying their fair share and then the more people participate the more tax they pay as
opposed to hey that $700 is going to keep people from even being able to participate. So to me it's if you make more money you should pay more tax. That's kind of how I see it. So thank you guys so much. Appreciate every all the work. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak at open forum?
All right, then we'll close the open forum. And as a matter of course, if questions are asked or things like that come up, the city manager responds at a later meeting at the during her city manager report. And also staff can reach out to you if you put your contact
information on the signin sheet. Next, we'll move on to our report from the advisory board of health. Um, Chair D'vor wasn't able to join us this evening, so I'm going to turn it over to the staff liaison support services
supervisor Jennifer Anderson. Thank you. >> Good evening, mayor and council members. Um, I wanted to provide a brief 2025 update on the um work that the advisory board of health has been doing. First to
just um give you the names of the commissioners who have served this last year. Katrina D'vor has been our chair. Rebecca Casease has been our co-chair. Kelly Hower has been the secretary. Uh Rachel Decker, Marcel Johnson, Pixie
Pixler, and Joel Schliceman. The Richfield Advisory Board of Health meets seven times a year and advises and makes recommendations to the council on matters relating to health and health policy. Some of the 25 highlights have included the addition of two members
this past year, uh, Rachel Decker and Marcel Johnson. Um, a presentation by Bloomington Public Health on the community health assessment. That is a comprehensive report of the health of people who live in Bloomington Edina in Richfield to identify key health needs,
priorities, and disparities. As you can imagine, mental health and housing remain at the top of that list. The cannabis and substance use prevention grant was provided by the Minnesota Department of Health. The majority of that is going to pay for
services um provided in Richfield by Bloomington Public Health. However, we were able to secure $20,000 of that funding for the advisory board to do with um a project that they were interested in doing. And so that is the
creation of a cannabis education and prevention website which will be launched hopefully by the end of the year. Um we've been working with a web developer um and part of um part of the development of that
website is community input. There was a survey that the commission created earlier this year asking five very simple questions essentially. what are residents interested in learning about cannabis and what would be useful to be on that website. Um that community
survey has been um provided at the state of the city at PennFest. It will be available online very soon as well. Um they heard a presentation of the environmental health food program run by Bloomington environmental health. They provide our food pools and lodging
inspections. Um they also provide a snapshot of um health issues that arise from neurovirus and things like that within our restaurants. They awarded Broadway Pizza and Dairy Queen food service awards.
They were also um the three commissions hosted a joint advisory board meeting. Um that focus was mental health, youth mental health. They participated at PennFest and as well as the first mental health summit
hosted by the cities of Bloomington, Edina, and Richfield late this fall, of which all three mayors were present. Mental health and cannabis were the two issues where most of the focus was spent this year. And looking forward to 2026, mental health will likely remain a priority along with the refinement of
the new cannabis education and prevention website. Any questions? >> Did we have any questions? Thank you for all of the work that you all have been doing. I was excited to hear about the cannabis education website. Um, one of the commissioners
was interviewing and was telling us all about it. So, we heard about it during commission interviews. And also, thank you for the work for the mental health summit. That was an an extraordinary experience and lots of great information. All right, any other questions?
All right, thank you. Next, we'll move on to the consent calendar and to remind you that we have pulled item B. Um, city manager Rodriguez. >> Thank you, Mayor. The consent calendar contains several separate items which are acted upon by the city council in
one motion. Once the consent calendar has been approved, the individual items and recommended actions have also been approved. No further council action on these items is necessary. On tonight's consent calendar, item A, approve dispersements and claims. Item C,
consider approval of a resolution granting a one-year time extension for Astra Commons. Item D, consider approval of the sentencing to serve program services agreement between Richfield and Henan County for calendar years 2026 and 2027.
Item E, consider approval to forgive two internal ICE arena loans totaling $472,170 with a transfer from long-term capital reserves. Item F, direct staff to adjust the 2025 revised budget and transfer 1.8
million from the elections fund to the long-term capital reserves fund and designate the fund balance to future government building capital projects. And I submit these items for your consideration as part of the con consent calendar. >> Is there a motion to approve the consent
calendar? >> I move the consent calendar as read. Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I will say I was happy to see some of the long-term planning discussions being implemented. So glad to see that's all
happening. Any other discussions? All right, then we'll have a roll call vote on the consent calendar. >> Council member Burke. >> I. >> Council member Hayford Liry. >> Hi. >> Mayor Sele. I, >> Council Member Christensen.
>> I, >> and Council Member Coleman Woods, >> I. >> This concludes our vote. >> Thank you. The consent calendar has been approved. Next, we're going to move on to the item that was pulled, 7B,
and I'm going to ask city manager Rodriguez to read the executive um summary for that, please. >> Yes. Uh, thank you, mayor. Uh, Richfield city ordinances requires the city council to conduct a public hearing to
consider the pond broker license renewals and a date to be set for the public hearing. Uh, this request uh was to set a the approval to set the date for the public hearing and originally we were asking that it be set for December
9th, 2025 to consider this license renewal. We asked that the item be pulled off of consent due to a staff error in submitting the public notice for a public hearing by a required date to the newspaper. Um, so we're
recommending that we now set the date uh for Jan January 13, 2026. And because we're pushing out the public hearing to January 13, 2026, we're also asking that the motion would include extending the current 2025 license to January 14th,
2026. Uh just a reminder, this has no impact on the current license or the business and support services manager Jennifer Anderson and I are available for questions. >> Did you have anything else you wanted to add
>> other than um several years ago staff worked with the former city clerk to come up with an algorithm to make sure that this didn't happen. And 25 was that odd year where we missed it by a day. We asked the company to if they would publish it, if they could
squeeze it in, and they said no. This, as city manager Rodriguez said, has no impact on the business. We're just extending the public hearing out a month. And after the council, should you approve it on January 13th, we can issue him his 26th license on January 14th.
And subsequently, after speaking to the owner of the pawn shop, this January 13th date actually works better for him. He had a conflict the night of the 9th. So, it's a win-win all around. Um, but we have put steps in place to make sure that we don't miss that publishing deadline in the future.
>> All right. Do we have a motion? >> Yeah. I move that we approve setting a public hearing to be held on January 13, 2026 to consider the renewal of the pond broker license for 2026 for Metropon and Gun Incorporated and to extend their 2025 pawn broker license to January
14th, 2026. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Then we'll take the roll call. >> Council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Herford Liry. Hi,
>> Mayor Supple. >> I, >> Council Member Christensen. >> I, >> and Council Member Coleman Woods, >> I. >> Thank you. This concludes our vote. >> Thank you. So, we have passed that item. Next, we'll move on to public hearings,
and I'll turn it over to item 9A to Council Member Hayford. >> Thank you. Um, this item will be a public hearing regarding an amendment to the 2022 spending plan for unobligated tax increment. In 2021, the state
legislature provided temporary authority to use unobligated tax increment from the existing tax increment districts to help stimulate private development that would not otherwise occur. The legislation allowed greater flexibility in the use of these tax increment funds in order to create or retain jobs. On
November 21st, 2022, the Housing Redevelopment Authority adopted a tax increment spending plan for up to $6,345,000 in unobligated tax increment from the Lindale Gateway Interchange West, urban village, and City Bella tax financing
districts. The 2021 temporary authority required projects to be under construction by December 31st, 2025. In 2025, the legislature amended the temporary legislation by allowing authorities to amend their spending plans to allow funds to be spent through
December 31st, 2026. The city supported and advocated for this amendment. The amended spending plan, which was in the packet, uh extends this deadline for using funds. No other changes are proposed. The strategy to retain unobligated tax
increment in the most flexible fund uh for the maximum amount of time continues. Does staff have any comments before I open the public hearing? >> Um, madame mayor, members of the council, I just will note that we did present this item to the HA last week
after our annual TIFF status update and the HA recommended unanimously uh that we pass the spending plan. So, as as mentioned, uh the only thing that is changing in the proposed plan is the date to expend these funds. Thanks.
>> Okay. Um, so we'll now have a public hearing for this item. So, anyone wishing to participate in the public hearing, please proceed to the podium one at a time. Provide your name and city of residence prior to your comment. And there'll be the same three minute length we've had in the past. I'm going to do it. Sorry.
>> Is there anyone who wishes to speak at the public hearing on this item? >> All right. Doesn't look like it, but I'll ask one more time. Is there anyone who wishes to speak at this public hearing? Then I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing. >> I move to close the public hearing.
>> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? >> Please call the role. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hay Fidili. >> Hi. >> Mayor Sle. >> I. >> Council member Christensen. >> I.
>> And council member Coleman Woods. >> I. >> Thank you. This concludes the vote. >> All right. All right. I move that we approve a resolution amending the tax increment spending plan. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion?
>> All in Oh, please call the role. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor Supple. Uh, Council Member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hayford Liry. Hi, >> Mayor Supple. Hi. >> Council member Christensen. Hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods. Hi.
>> Thank you. Next, we'll move on to item 9B. Um, Council Member Coleman Woods. >> Thank you, Mayor. On August 29th, 2025, the city received the application materials for new on sale wine and 3.2%
malt liquor licenses for Brim 2 LLC D doing business as Brim Restaurant located at 2910 66th Street West. All required information and documents have been received and all licensing fees have been paid. The public safety background investigation has been
completed and there is nothing in the report that would cause the public safety director to recommend denial of the required the requested licenses. And I both um staff is there any additional information?
Mayor and Council, we were made aware uh just recently that the owner of BRIM was not going to be able to be present tonight. They wanted to know um would we have to push the public hearing back. This does happen occasionally. Um so they will not be present. Um they didn't
have any statements. You can proceed as normal. Okay. Um any any resident wishing to participate in the public hearing, please proceed to the podium at one time uh and provide your name and city of residence prior to your comment. Council
will hear your comment. If you would like to have staff like to staff to follow up, please include your name and phone number or email on the signin document located at the podium. To ensure everyone has time to speak, each comment will be limited to three minutes in length. As a reminder to residents,
the public hearing is a time for council to listen but not respond. If questions are asked, they may be addressed as part of the council discussion on the issue or staff will follow up after the meeting. And the public hearing for Brim Restaurant is now open.
>> Is there anyone who wishes to speak? >> Anyone who wishes to speak? Um, it doesn't look like we have any speakers. So, a motion would be in order to close the public hearing. >> I move to close the public hearing. Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there
any discussion? Please call the role. >> Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke. >> Council member Hayford Liry. >> I. >> Council uh excuse me, Mayor Supple. >> I. >> Council member Christensen. >> Hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods.
>> I. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, the public hearing is closed >> and I move to close the public hearing. >> We've already done that. >> I move to approve >> uh the
new sorry the I move to approve the on sale wine and 3.2 malt liquor licenses for Brim 2 LLC doing business as Brim Restaurant. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and second. Is there any discussion?
I will say welcome to the community. We always welcome a new business. Any further discussion? City Clerk Friedrich, if you could call the role. >> Thank you, Mayor Supple. Uh, Council Member Burke, >> hi. >> Council member Hayford Liry,
>> hi. >> Mayor Suppel, >> I. >> Council member Christensen, >> hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods. >> I. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, we have approved that issuance. Next, we'll move on to item
11A, and I'll turn that over to council member Burke. Descertification of tax increment financing district number 2020-2. January 26, 2021, city of Richfield created tax increment financing or TIF
district number 2020-2. redevelopment TIFF district was intended to provide assistance necessary to constru construct a mixeduse project on property located at 1016 Street East. Several obstacles, including increased
construction and material costs, have forced the developer to abandon the project. As of the end of the year, there will be no outstanding obligations related to the TIF district, and no project could take place prior to statuto deadlines. Staff and the housing
Development Authorities Financial Consultant recommend that the TIF district be descertified. >> Yes. Thank you, uh, Madame Mayor, members of the council. I will just, uh, remind you and anyone watching that this is a privately owned parcel. Um, and so
while there is no longer any obligation to provide a financial commitment, the city doesn't have the authority to go in and make something else happen at this location. Uh, the property remains for sale. Uh, and when the property owner or a new owner comes in with a new
proposal, we will evaluate it as we would any other uh, proposal for a new land use in the city. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, I make a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the
descertification of tax increment financing district number 2020-2. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right, then we'll take the role. Thank you, Mayor Supple. And that will be Council Member Burke. Hi.
>> Council member Hayford Olyri. Hi. >> Mayor Seppel. Hi. >> Council member Christensen. I and council member Coleman Woods. >> I >> thank you. >> So, the motion has passed. Next, we'll
move on to item 11B. Council member Hayford Deliri. >> Uh, this item is to consider resolutions approving descertification of the Lindale Gateway Interchange West and Urban Village Tax Increment Financing Districts. Lindale Gateway Interchange
West Tax Increment Financing District is a redevelopment district that was created to facilitate the site assembly for the Best Buy headquarters and facilitate redevelopment along Lindale Avenue that created the Main Street Village Senior Housing Development and Castile Place Town Homes. The TIF district was created or certified on
June 14th, 1999 and is required to descertify by December 31st, 2025. The tax increment revenue generated was pledged to repay general obligation bonds related to the new Penn Avenue bridge over Interstate 494 and to make
payments on pay as you go notes to Best Buy and the housing project to assist in the cost of redevelopment. Final payment on the bonds were was made in February. This obligation has been fully satisfied. There remains significant outstanding balances on the pay as you
go notes. However, neither the city nor the housing and redevelopment authority are obligated to pay this amount and all obligations are considered to be met. There is estimated to be 1,471,929 in additional tax capacity in 2026 due to the descertification of the TIF
district. The estimated value of properties within the tis tiff district has increased by approximately 70.5 million over inflation adjusted uh original market values. The Urban Village TIF District is a redevelopment district that was created
to facilitate the mixeduse development located on the southeast corner of Lindale Avenue and 66th Street. The development includes Woodlake Center, the Oaks Pleasant Apartments, and Beimo Bank. The TIF district was certified on July 15th, 1999 as required to
descertify by December 31st, 2025. The tax increment revenue in the form of pay as you go notes was paid to the developer to assist with property acquisition and excess site development expenses. While there remain significant outstanding balances on the second pay as you go note, neither the city nor the
H are obligated to pay this amount and all obligations are considered to be met. Descertification of the urban village tiff district will result in an estimated 1 million $12,829 in additional tax capacity in 2026. The estimated market values of value of
properties within the tip district has increased by approximately 58 million over original market values. Both districts have reached their statutory limits. It has been city council policy to adopt a resolution when descertifying tip districts, although this is not required.
Does staff have anything to add prior to making a motion? >> I do not. Thank you. Can I ask one question? Um, it refers to PGO notes here. Can you explain how those work? >> Yes. Thank you, uh, mayor, members of
the council. A PGO note is the way that we, um, have chosen oftentimes to, uh, contribute to redevelopment and housing projects. It is uh, a way when a project is completed, we issue a payo note. It's
a pay as you go note. It means that as taxes are paid on the inflated or on the new value of the property, that tax increment is then refunded to the developer. What it means is that the um the risk of the payment going to the
developer is on the developer. The city is not obligated to make those payments um if the value does not increase as anticipated. Um does that answer the question or would you like additional details? >> No, that was fine. I just think that we
sometimes speak in a lot of jargon and people may not know what that was about. So, I wanted to clarify. >> Yes. Thank you. >> All right. Um, I move that we approve a resolution approving the descertification of the Lindale Gateway Interchange West Tax Increment Financing District.
>> I'll second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? >> I was pleased to see the additional tax capacity going back on the tax roles. So, if there's no further discussion, can you please call the role?
>> Thank you, Mayor Supple. Yes. Council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hayford Deliry. >> Hi. >> Mayor Supple. >> I. >> Council member Christensen. >> I. >> And Council Member Coleman Woods. >> I. >> Thank you. >> Okay. That motion has passed. Next,
>> I move that we approve a resolution approving the descertification of the Urban Village Tax Increment Financing District. I'll second that. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Council member Hroli. >> Um I just wanted to call out the
equitable or strategic consideration listed that the urban village redevelopment project has contributed to the goal of a vibrant downtown and an increased tax base. It's just a really good example of something that I think has contributed and added added really lasting value to the community. This is the building that once housed Hoola Hands, has a lot of medical office,
provides a lot of community needs, and it still looks great after 25 years. All right. Thank you. Any further comments or questions? Then could you please call the role? >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hayford Deliri. >> Hi.
>> Mayor Supple. >> I. >> Council member Christensen. >> I. >> And Council Member Coleman Woods. >> I. >> Thank you. >> That motion passes. We will move on then
to item 12A. Council member Coleman Woods. Thank you, mayor. Uh, the item for consideration is the consideration of or to consider approval of preliminary design layouts for 2026 sidewalk
projects. The uh engineering department is currently coordinating the design of three pedestrian projects scheduled for 2026 construction. The projects are were identified as priority corridors in the city's active transportation plan and will fill sidewalk gaps in the project
areas. The project areas are 73rd Street between Portland and Cedar Avenue, 64th Street between Lindale Avenue and Portland Avenue, 64th Street and Russell Avenue near Sheridan Hills Elementary, addressing gaps identified in the 2025 safe routes to school comprehensive
plan. And all three projects were recommended for approval by the Transportation Commission at their November 5th meeting. Transportation engineer Matt Hardiger will provide a brief presentation with an overview of the engagement process and and design
for each project. >> Thank you, Council Member Woods. Thank you, Mayor Supple. And thank you, Council. Uh, I have a brief presentation here and then uh we'll open up for questions or discussion. >> Um, city clerk Friedick, do I have control
of the monitor? So, Uh this is just a quick map to show an overview of the three different project locations uh that council member Coleman Woods uh identified in the executive summary here. Uh the Sheridan Hills safe routes to school project is in Northwest Richfield. The 64th Street
project is in North Central Richfield. And then the 73rd Street sidewalk is in southeast Richfield. Uh project background for these 2018 pedestrian master plan first identified these the 73rd Street project and the 64th Street project as priority
pedestrian corridors. uh a 2024 design study for safe routs to school identified this project around the Sheridan Hills area which was also brought forward into the 2025 safe routes to school comprehensive plan. Um altogether the network expansion of sidewalks is about two miles of new
sidewalk facilities. Uh combined there about $2.9 million in total investment between uh grant funds and city funds. uh for engagement for this. Uh residents near the projects were notified via mailers to the neighborhood. Residents who lived along the corridor also
received a survey notification letter. Um and the project was also uh advertised on the Bridgefield Recap as well as I believe on our social media channels. Um we had popup events at in the neighborhoods for the 64th Street and 73rd Street sidewalks. We had about
36 attendees at those four events. There was an open house here in the council chambers on October 1st that had 10 attendees. Um there was an online comment map that was open for that entire period that had about 26 interactions with it. Um and then phone calls and emails with staff were another
11 comments that we received for about 83 total touch points. Uh common questions we received are were about tree one of them was about trees. Will trees be cut down? The answer to that is yes. Uh there will be tree impacts for these projects. Um on 73rd Street there's rough 73rd Street and
64th Street both roughly have about 20 trees per project. Um Sheridan Hills has six. Our consultant and the city forester have evaluated the tree impacts to this project. For 73rd Street about four of those 20-ish trees are mature
healthy trees. The other 14 are lower quality ash trees things like that that were not that the city would replant pretty easily and not really change the character of the neighborhood. Um the 64th Street project has seven very nice
high quality mature trees. Um then 14 mid to low including eight on park property that are all essentially dead trees. Um and then Sheridan Hills has four high quality trees with two lower quality trees. U the city does replant
in areas where we have to take down trees for a construction project. timeline for that is to be determined. Typically, we like to do it in the the fall each year. Um, depending on when construction is complete, we would do that in the same year if possible. If
construction is completed too late in the year for us to plant, we would have to do that the next year. Another frequent question we receive is who's responsible for shoveling? Uh, current city policy is that one path is done on all sidewalks by city crews. Um,
any adjacent property owner is able to beyond that but the city does the one pass and that is it. Um fences, gardens or other encroachments. Uh if that fence garden or encroachment is within the city's right of way, it is the property
owner's responsibility to remove or relocate that. Um even if it is permitted, our permits require that property owners move anything that is in the way of a city project. Um and they are aware of that when they receive the permit. Um if anything is outside of the
city's rightway that will be impacted by the project, the city is responsible for those impacts, but we do not have any of those anticipated on this project right now. Um our driveway is being rebuilt. Uh we will rebuild all aprons with the project, the concrete portion that uh
connects to the street and then any area that is impacted by the construction which is typically back to the property line. Um and then we also received a lot of questions about assessments. Richfield does not assess sidewalk constructions and these three projects are primarily
grant funded. Um the amount of city funds that are being used on this are very limited and are not from the general fund. Um I'm going to go over the scope of the three projects very quickly. Um 73rd Street has three distinct segments based on the design here. Um to the west
segment from Portland to 12th, a six foot walk with a six foot boulevard area is proposed on the north side of the road. Uh this includes moving the the curb line to the south and removing the existing parking lane. Uh this area is a very tight rightway 60 ft wide and the
existing road is about 44 feet of those existing 60 ft. Um so there's not a lot of room to build the sidewalk without moving the curb. Um the middle segment of this from 12th to about 72nd Street, uh we're planning to build an 8 foot path with a 4 to six foot boulevard on
the north side of the road. This matches the asphalt path to the northeast of there. Um creates a continuous off- streetet bike facility between 12th Avenue and Cedar Avenue. Um and then like I said, it will connect into the east segment where we would plan to uh
rehabilitate the existing path. um rebuild pedestrian ramps that are non-compliant and um very limited scope of work through that area. Uh the project benefits for this is it fills a sidewalk gap along a collector road. Our city sidewalk policy does uh recommend
that we have sidewalk a sidewalk on each collector road. Um it increases access to the Dline station at 73rd in Portland and it also provides better connectivity between multiple schools in the area. So there's currently no um getting across
73rd Street or along 73rd Street uh to get to Centennial STEM RDLS or even the middle or high school does not currently have a path as as direct as this would be on 64th Street. Um the scope is from Lindale to Portland. Uh we are planning
to construct a sixoot sidewalk with six foot boulevard on the south side of the road for that entire stretch. Um similarly, this fills a sidewalk gap along a collector road between Nicola and Portland Avenue. It's a very busy high speed traffic. Um it provides additional non-motorized railroad
crossing at the railroad tracks along Pleasant Avenue. Um and connects the sidewalk network from Richfield Lake to Veterans Park and everyone in between. Um a lot of people at the popup events for this were very interested in using this to get to and from the farmers market at Vets Park in the summer.
Uh the remaining design questions that we still do have with this project have not there are two s two questions that have not been fully solidified. Um at 64th in Nicollet, it's a very long wide intersection. We would like to do something to enhance pedestrian safety
at that intersection. Uh that does require county approval. The transportation commission recommended a pedestrian refuge with a pedestrian activated light that was shown in the layout that was in your packet. um it would take up the full left turn lane. Um that would require county approval.
We do believe that we can get county approval for that and we'll ask and but need to work through the process to get that before um we can construct it. Um and at the railroad crossing, the direct line where we want to cross is at a switch. Um which as we've been informed
by the railroad company, uh cannot be constructed. We can't pave across a switch. Um, we have two options there. The one we are currently planning to do is zigzag the crosswalk just slightly to the north where we have more space between the rails and can pave. That's a
lower cost option. The other option that we do have would be to replace those that entire sighting and that switch area. That would be entirely at city cost because the railroad company doesn't need to move it. We would be asking them to do it for this project.
And then at Sheridan Hills, um this is a we have a six foot walk with six foot boulevard on the north side of 64th Street. Uh this is between Thomas Avenue and just east of Russell Avenue. Um a sixoot sidewalk along the school property on Russell Avenue and then curb
extensions into 64th Street at Thomas Avenue, Sheridan Avenue, and Russell Avenue. This fills a sidewalk gap that was in the safe routes to school plans that I mentioned. uh provides additional connections to the school from the norththeast and southeast and then shortens crossing distance, increases visibilities for pedestrians and drivers
on 64th Street. Uh so like I mentioned, the total cost for this around is around $3 million. Uh for the 73rd Street project received a $1 million grant from the MEC council for active transportation that requires a 20% city match. Um 64th Street
received an $853,000 grant from the Met Council for Active Transportation. Also requires a 20% city match. And the Sheridan Hills project received about a $545,000 grant from MIDOT for safe routes to school. That does not require any match
up to the total. Uh right now, uh the the anticipated costs include a 20% contingency and are slightly higher than the total budget. the city match for 73rd Street and 64th Street. This uh the
numbers that you're shown here that say city of Richfield 2026 CIP is the expected match based on our grant award. Um the additional city responsibility is accounted for in the 2026 CIP. Um we had are
for a number of reasons that number that uh that money is accounted for right now. Um and then our timing right now uh upon approval would be to move into final design to be the rest of December and
then into January, February, March. Um in March and April, we would do uh the projects out for bid and get agreement on approval of grants agreement with Met Council and Mindot and construct these projects in 2026 summer of 2026. And
with that, I am happy to stand for any questions. Do we have any questions? >> Thank you for the very thorough report. Um, Council Member Hayford Deliri. >> Um, yeah, thank you for your presentation and thanks uh, staff both for for writing these grants and getting
this money into the city. Uh, this makes a big difference. Um, I did just want to share I think a funny artifact um that I found a couple years ago in newspapers.com where you can look at old Star Tribunes and stuff that apparently the city council was considering a
sidewalk on 73rd from Lindale all the way to Cedar um in the 1980s and at neighborhood protest the council at the time cut the section east of Portland. I live between Nickel and Portland. I use that sidewalk almost every day and I think that the neighbors to the east will appreciate having a sidewalk as
well. Um, the only question I had for staff, you mentioned uh the policy about dealing with encroachments. Have property owners already been notified who may have encroachments. >> Uh, no, we are planning to do that this winter. >> Okay. So, they'll still a couple months
before construction starts, though. Okay. Thanks. >> Any other questions? >> I had a um question. A resident had been asking about getting um a safe way to cross Nicola to to park and I know it
was a couple of blocks from here, but if we put in that um pedestrian refuge with the pedestrian activated light, will that then connect to a sidewalk so the person could then go across there and up to the park?
>> Uh yes. So this the uh the refuge would be on the south side of 64th Street connecting the sidewalks on each side of Nicllet along 64th Street. They would connect to the sidewalks on Nicollet which aren't in the best shape but yes they would connect to a sidewalk
that could go up to the park. >> So that would help meet the request that we had from that resident. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Other questions? Okay. Then we would take each of these as a separate motion.
So by individual motion to uh we didn't even enter we'd entertain a motion to approve the preliminary design layouts for three 2026 projects.
First we'll go with 73rd Street from Portland Avenue to Cedar Avenue. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve that portion of the project. Are there any additional questions for that one?
We're asking the council members. Yes. Thank you. And if there are people in the audience that have additional questions, we can talk to you after the meeting as well. So, any other questions for that? >> All right. Could you please call the role for the first motion?
>> Yes. Thank you, Mayor Sel. Council member Burke. Hi, >> Council Member Hayford Olyri. >> Hi, >> Mayor Suppel. >> Hi, >> Council Member Christensen. >> I >> and Council Member Coleman Woods. >> I >> Thank you.
>> Okay, that motion is passed. We'll move on to the second one. >> 64th by individual motion, approve preliminary design layouts for uh 64th Street from Lindell Avenue to Portland Avenue. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Do the
council members have any questions? >> All right, call the role, please. >> Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke, >> hi. >> Council member Hayford Deliri. >> Hi. >> Mayor Supple. >> Hi. >> Council member Christensen. >> I. >> And Council Member Coleman Woods.
>> I. >> Thank you. >> And finally, the third uh approve the preliminary design, a motion to approve the preliminary design layout for Sheridan Hills Elementary. elementary school area safe routes to school.
>> Second. >> All right, it's been moved and seconded. Any questions about this one? >> Before we wrap up, I just wanted to thank staff. I know there was a lot of time spent on engagement and talking to the people in the neighborhoods and I appreciate that.
Any other questions from council members? >> All right, please call the role. >> Thank you, Mayor Sel. Council member Burke. Hi, >> Council Member Hayford Olyri. >> Hi, >> Mayor Suppel. >> I, >> Council Member Christensen. >> I,
>> and Council Member Coleman Woods. >> I >> Thank you. >> That motion has passed. Next, we'll go on to item 12B. We'll have I'll go on to item 12B. Council member Coleman Woods, go ahead. >> Thank you, Mayor.
All right. So, we have the appointments for Our latest C commissioners and terms of several city advisory board and commission members are set to expire January 31st, 2026. The terms for
advisory board and commissioners are three years. Please please refer to the attached list of appointments for reference which I'll read off here. The city council directs the city manager's office to conduct an annual recruitment seeking applicants to fill the vacancies. This recruitment indicates a
press release and excuse me, it includes a press release and information on the city's website and social media platforms. Applicants were interviewed at a special work session held on November 15th, 2025. And to ensure a quorum future advisory board and commission meetings, the city council
should make appointments to fill vacant positions. And uh based on our votes, uh the following have Uh the following commission vacancies have been filled uh to the advisory
board of health. Uh Marcel Johnson whose term expires well these all expire January 31st 2029. Uh Garrett Draper and Kirsten Norby and with alternate Eric Porter. Uh, for the arts commission,
Stephanie Eaton, John Blackshere, and Paul Chilman. With two alternates, Jacqueline Volma, and Thomas Cassidy. For the Civil Service Commission, Britney Thomas with an alternate, Grace Centini. Uh, for the Community Services
Commission, David Reese Daniels, Margot Mayor, Jonathan Doton, Max Weinberger, and alternates Michael Kreblin, and David Sperling. Um, for the human rights commission,
Angela Mixon, Brandon Pulfus, and Kim Loops Loots. Uh, for the planning commission, Cole Hulie Cole Huey, Matt Haroldson, and Jeff Waltz. For the sustainability commission, Alexa Waznjak, Katrina D'vor, and Ray
Sukchain. And for the transportation commission, Jacob Olsen, Adam Nosala, and Josh Clone. And if anything, I'd make a motion to uh appoint the members to fill the expiring or vacant terms on city advisory boards
and commissions referenced in the attached list. Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Um, Council Member Burke, >> just a quick thank to those who applied and really appreciate your willingness
to do this. It's very important the city have new commissioners and new blood to further those missions. Thank you. >> I agree. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody who came out. We had 37 applicants for 23 positions. And so I'm
excited to see how many new people are going to be involved and who want to be involved. Those commission interview days are always fun because there's so much enthusiasm and a lot of creative ideas. So, I I would second what everybody else has said that we really appreciate everybody that came
out and volunteered and we're looking forward to working with some new people and the return of the people who are going on their second or third terms. So, we appreciate that. >> Mayor, could I just clarify? I think this was addressed over email, but I sustainability. We were told there were actually four things and the first
alternate would need to be seated. Is that >> Yeah, excuse me. Um >> this section or is this >> this was actually human rights? Um >> there were two there were two commissions that that affected. >> Yeah. >> But are we appointing those people now
or will we have separate appointments for those alternates? >> Um I'm going to ask the staff. Do we need to do this later or do that as part of this um motion? I was not told that you were to do it
tonight. If you know the names, I I do know sustainability that um Mark was recommending Amanda uh Keeper. I don't know if I'm pronouncing your last name right, but that Amanda would be uh appointed and I if you know the other one, you can make the motion tonight to
do that. >> Okay. So for the people who are from the general public that are listening on the human rights commission, one of the commissioners moved and so he was no longer eligible to be on the commission. So we were recommending that the first
alternate Tim Franson would take that spot and complete the term and so he would start February 1 when the new term started. And then also um we realized that there was a fourth vacancy on the sustainability commission. The first
alternate there was Amanda Keeper. And so I think based on your question, it's probably cleaner to appoint those people as well as all the people that um Commissioner Coleman or council member Coleman Woods. >> I've upgraded. I've been upgraded and I
would move to add uh those new commission members based on the recent movement. >> I'll second that amendment. >> All right. So it's been moved and seconded. Um if you could call any further discussion.
Okay. If you could call the role. >> This is on the amendment or the >> um should we do it on the amendment first? Okay. So first on the amendment. >> Council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hayford Deliri. >> Hi. >> Mayor Supple.
>> Hi. >> Council member Christensen. >> Hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods. >> Hi. All right. So now we are voting on the motion as amended. So if you could call the role on that.
>> Motion as amended. Councelor Council member Burke. >> Hi. >> Council member Hayford Deliri. >> Hi. >> Mayor Supple. >> I. >> Council member Christensen. >> Hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Council member Coleman Woods.
Next we'll move on to Council Member Burke for item 12 C. So the item for consideration is to consider adoption of a resolution awarding the sale of $6,60,000 general obligation sales tax revenue
bonds series 2025A at the October 25th 2025 city council meeting. The city council approved a resolution providing for the sale of 6 million60,000 general obligation sales tax revenue bonds series 2025A.
These bonds will finance improvements to the Lake Nature Center and the Veterans Park Complex project. Bids on the bonds are due in the offices of Ellers and Associates Inc. on Tuesday, November 25th, 2025. Rebecca from Ellers will be at the
meeting to recommend. >> No, I would defer to Rebecca. her presentation. >> Thank you so much. >> This morning in our office, we took bids for the city's $6,160,000 general obligation sales tax bond series
2025A. Excuse me. Um before we get into the details of that um I just want to remind you we did have the bonds rated as you have done in the past and as um many of you have heard me say so many times. Um I will again say congratulations.
Standard and pores did assign a double A plus rating with a stable outlook and for the 2025A bonds and they affirm that rating for your outstanding general obligation debt. um a complete copy of their report is in your packet, but um
for those that may not have the packet or that are listening, I just want to pull out a couple of the highlights that standard and pores did share. Um S&P Global Ratings assigned its double A+ rating to the city of Richfield's um
$6.16 million general obligation sales tax bonds. This rating reflects their view of the city's proximity to the Minneapolis St. Paul a metropolitan statistical area. The stable budget of the city with surpluses in fiscal years
23 and 24 um primarily due to the higher property tax revenue and interest earnings along with management projecting a surplus in 2025 and they anticipate that the city will maintain its strong financial performance giving given its um
capabilities. In addition, they highlight the city's healthy reserve position um without the plans for future spendown of your general fund reserve. So again, um maintaining very close to your minimum
40% of expenditures per your reserve policy. Um they talk about the sophisticated management framework of the city and the debt burn burden continuing to remain um manageable with relative to your economy even with the
anticipation of some of your future projects in debt including the future sales tax bonds um that are allowed under the sales tax um legislation that was approved a couple years ago. So with that the results of today's sale um we
did receive seven bids. The low bid was from Baird and it had a true interest cost of 3.0656. Um that compares to when um my coworker Brian was here about a month ago. We had estimated today's rates to be about
3.29. So it came in about um 20 not quite 29 basis points um lower than where that estimate was. Um again, this portion is one of um the second of multiple issues related to your sales
tax revenue that will be coming in. This portion was for improvements to the Veterans Park project predominantly um about $5 million and then also an additional $1 million that will go um to complete
the Woodlake Nature Center project. um debt service is um expected to be paid solely from the sales tax revenues that will be coming in. Um these bonds have a five-year term. They are callable in February of 2029 or any date thereafter
if there was an opportunity to either prepay the debt or to um refinance the last year or two for lower interest cost. Um and with the way the structure is, we have factored in the revenue that we will so um completely pay. The debt
that was issued in 2024 from the sales tax um revenue, the 2025 debt that we are proposing to award today will um be paid solely and there is money left over then because we do recognize that there
is a third issue anticipated in 2026 to continue um these projects. It is the goal that um all three of the 24, 25, and 26 sales tax bonds would be paid in full or that's the goal by the time that
debt would be issued for the community center at some point in the future. So, we will continue to monitor that. Um there's some some um unknowns still at this point in time, but that is the plan and it is structured with that to be the
plan. Um with this we are recommending awarding to bear beared with the true interest cost of 3.065 and if you choose to do so funds would be available on December 18th. Um there is a resolution in your packet or that
was forwarded updated later today um that was drafted by your bond attorney that um does recognize today's sale and the final results. And with that I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you. Are there any questions?
I was pleased to see the bond rating. My question would be I'm assuming if it's a good bond rating that that's what part of the reason we got the lower interest rate because we're a stable risk factor. >> I was going to say it. Absolutely. you have a long history of um having a very
solid very good bond rating um and and a long history of um solid financials, good planning, all of those things that that continue to support that. So, at this point in time um in the rating report, it talks about
no concerns with a change or um seeing that seeing that change in the near future. The one thing I will um just comment on that is I know and it's again addressed in the rating report. There's that question of what will it take to
get to that next level and that is always a discussion that we have after we do receive the rating from standard and pores. And the message that the analyst shared with um staff and myself is you as a community are doing everything that you can physically
control and do. And it really um the rating compares a lot of factors to other communities across the nation. And the one area that is Richfield is a little bit lower is some of the demographic area with um related to
wealth and um incomes. And it's it's not something that you know I know you're working toward that. We're always we always are, but it's not something that you can easily shift and um increase those demographic numbers. So, um I I
would be very proud of it and it's it's a fantastic rating that a lot of communities would like to see. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you for that very thorough report. Um Council Member Burke.
So there's a motion to adopt the resolution awarding the sale of general obligation sales tax revenue bonds series 2025 A in the original principal amount of 6,60,000 fixing the form and specifications
directing their execution delivery and providing further pay. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right. Um, city clerk Friedrich, if you could call the role. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council
member Burke, >> hi. >> Council member Hayford Olyri. >> Hi. >> Mayor Suppel, >> I. >> Council member Christensen, >> I. >> And Council Member Coleman Woods. >> I. >> Thank you. >> The motion has passed. Next, we'll move
on to the city manager report. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, we had only one speaker at last night, uh, sorry, last meetings open forum and there weren't any questions, so I don't have anything to report on that. Um, I do want to thank, uh, tonight's residents, uh, that
spoke on their property taxes and, um, I I know they're not here anymore, but um, just to assure them, this is one of our toughest tasks each year is to put together the budget. It's really hard to keep the property taxes uh low and then
keep delivering the services um that that people, you know, expect. Um we also are dealing with increased costs. Um so we're also trying to catch up on some um maintaining our fixed assets and
that's a long-term uh goal that we're we're making good progress on. But um again, I I thought that the comments were really thoughtfully just delivered and so we will keep those in mind as we put together future budgets. Um it's also a big challenge just putting the
budget document together and um our our budget cash and debt manager Steve McDaniel, he had to hit the ground running and he did a great job this year. So thank you very much. Um I also wanted to thank uh council and staff for the good discussion on the legislative platform. We just discussed that at the
work session. Uh we have I think I feel like we approve the process each year on that. Uh it does seem to get more complicated each year all of those issues and I am always impressed with the depth of our staff's knowledge on the technical details and then also
council's really good questions and guidance on it. So um I guess I'm I'm in the spirit of Thanksgiving tonight and spreading spreading gratitude. So thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to council discussion. Council member
Burke. In that similar spirit, just wishing everyone who's listening a happy Thanksgiving. A lot of challenges in the world right now and hopefully you can find things to be thankful for. >> Council member Hayer Liry, >> no items today.
>> Council member Christensen. >> I have nothing tonight. All right, Council Member Coleman Woods. >> Sorry, I am I am out of words at this hour. >> It is one of our longer meetings. Thank
you. So, um I wanted to thank all the staff for figuring out a way to do um attendance for Council Member Christensen so she could attend remotely and making that all work. And also thank you for um the budget presentation and
the truth and taxation work. I appreciate it. Um I do have a couple of announcements. Uh we have an opening on our H that's going to be coming up and so applications are now open for the housing and redevelopment authority and
they will be open through December 15th. So if you're interested in those types of things, please fill out an application. Um, and then I just received official notice that I'm on jury duty from January 15th or excuse me, January 5th
through January 16th. And so I don't know if I'll be at the council meeting on January 13th. It depends if I get elected for um jury duty. So I just wanted to let our mayor prom know that he may be on duty if I get selected.
Thank you. Um also um one of the things we do in January is we appoint the liaison and representatives. So um um m uh excuse me we have passed out the list. So if you can get back to me with
your feedback on whether or not you want to continue with what you're currently doing or if you want to mix it up and go to a different thing and just let me know before the December 9th meeting that would be great. And the final thank you is to everybody that was involved with the house bonding tour. Uh shout
out to um Representative Howard who kicked us all off for that and all of the um members of the legislature that sat and listened to our plea for money after they we were the last one of an entire day of them listening to requests. So we were the hopefully ended
on a high note. So, thank you to the staff members and everybody involved in putting that together and I hope we will get some bonding money to help pay for Nicollet Avenue. Appreciate that. Any other comments or questions?
All right. Um, I hope everybody gets home safely tonight. I don't think the snow has ended and so I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> So, moved. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting. Um there's no
discussion on that, but we do have to do one final roll call vote of the evening. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor Supple. Council member Burke, >> hi. >> Council member Hayford Deliri. >> Hi, >> Mayor Seppel. >> I council member Christensen.
>> Hi. >> And council member Coleman Woods. I >> thank you. >> We stand adjourned. Thank you.