ahead good evening everyone like to call to order this regular city council meeting of the city of Richfield it's February 11th it is officially I believe 7:03 pm and if you're able please rise
and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance 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 you can refer to the
council agenda minutes page on Richfield mn.gov city council we also the opportunity that you can speak in person and at the moment I have one card that's been submitted is there anyone else that wants to turn one
in before we start the speaking okay so remember that you have three minutes and you will come up when I call you up you'll come up to the podium and um write tell us your name and your address and then you can also
since you've submitted a card you don't need to sign in um you can sign if you want to you'll have three minutes once you've started with your name and your address so um acting city manager Tongan did we have anybody that you know of that called in ahead of
time or ever emailed all right so then we're gonna go ahead with I'm GNA call up John Lucas Erikson so if you could join us thank you good evening members of the city council uh thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight my name is johnc ericon
and I'm a local short-term rental operator I know this topic isn't on tonight's agenda but I want to briefly highlight some of the significant benefits short-term rentals provide to the community and suggest some practical balanced regulations that ensure responsible operations while allowing this valuable asset to be available to
the community short-term rentals serve an essential function by providing temporary housing Solutions many of our guests are not traditional tourists but families visiting loved ones attending weddings or funerals relocating for work or dealing with emergency home repairs
during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic short-term rentals provided a safe clean and comfortable space for quarantining individuals demonstrating their ability to serve critical Community needs in addition to the hosts each short-term rental listing employs cleaning staff
maintenance Crews snow removal teams handymen and other service professionals all of whom would be affected by decisions made regarding short-term rentals in Richfield Beyond these direct jobs short-term rental guests actively support local businesses restaurants cafes shops and attractions in fact
guests frequently mention their positive experiences with richfield's local establishments thus playing a role in sustaining our small business Community I also recognize that there have been some issues with short-term rentals in Richfield and I fully support new regulations that ensure short-term
rentals operate in a way that benefits not only hosts but their neighbors and the broader Community as well many responsible hosts already imped best practices to prevent disruptive behavior to protect short-term rentals ability to be a benefit to everyone
involved I encourage the council to create a simple short-term rental license that includes the following a two night minimum stay requirement to prevent an overwhelming majority of parties mandatory noise monitoring devices and outdoor security cameras equipping hosts to be proactive rather
than reactive clear communication of existing noise crash and parking laws and require a designated local contact be provided for each short-term rental to promptly address any potential issues additionally a reasonable cap on short-term rental licenses such as 2% of
total housing units could prevent excessive growth while still allowing responsible operators to continue serving visitors and residents in need of temporary housing in conclusion short-term rentals are a real asset to Ridgefield they provide essential accommodations for for
a variety of guests generate tax revenue to the city and support local businesses rather than Banning short-term rentals I encourage the council to consider balance and practical regulations that encourage responsible hosting while preserving the advantages short-term rentals offer
Ridgefield residents and their families I urge the council to adopt thoughtful policies that recognize the value of short-term rentals and their role in making Richfield a welcoming and prosperous city thank you for your time if you have any questions for me please reach out after the meeting tonight I'm
more than happy to help however okay thank you is there anyone else who wishes to speak for open forum and then I just received a text from somebody who's watching us and they said they're having help hard time hearing us if we could turn up the
volume so I don't know if tech can fix that but if we can all talk louder that would probably help as well so just the community is reaching out and they want to hear what's being said so thank you for your comments um and also I believe
you shared a pack of information with each of the council members do you have an extra one that we could live give to the city clerk or oh okay well I don't want to take your copy otherwise we can make a copy
thank you that would be good so we could have it in the record and the council members could also have it so if there are no further people that wish to speak for the open Forum we will move on with the agenda thank you your comments next
we're going to move on to approval of the minutes of the city council work session from January 28th 2025 and the city council regular meeting from January 28th 2025 I would like to um point out that
it has come to our attention that there were a couple of Corrections that need to be made and so we're going to read those out loud now so that um they can be entered into the record and then we will move the minutes as
agenda or as amended excuse me so for the city council work session on January 28th um there is a correction with who had inquired about the total number of emergency calls received from rentals and that should be council member Burke
so that had the wrong council member written down so that is corrected on the work session so it was council member Burke that inquired on the total number of emergency calls received from rals and then if you go to the regular Council minute meeting or council
meeting minutes from January 28th we did have one um just typographical error so Margaret Perez her name was spelled correctly in the or the first sentence and then it was misspelled in the second sentence and so we wanted to make sure we actually spell the name correctly in
both places so those are the two changes that have to do in the official minut make a motion to approve okay and as amended as amended is there a second second all right so
we've had a motion and a second to approve the minutes as amended I did want to make one other statement um I made a mistake during the work session and it is not reflected in the minutes and the minutes are corrected so we don't need to make a correction that way
but I did make a misstatement and I want to correct that so the council members has the correct information I had mentioned that both Adina and Bloomington um had banned short-term rentals but I was wrong about the when that happened
ad Dina actually did it like 40 years ago and so I wanted to correct that um Bloomington was more recent in the last 10 years and I'd mistakenly said they both were more recent so I just want to correct that Adina has had a ban for 40 years in the actual minutes it just says
that I don't think it needs to be corrected because it mentions where is it exactly it just says they had not that short-term rentals had not been a concern until neighboring communities began Banning
them so that is accurate in the minutes and it I just want to make sure that I'm correcting my mistake if anybody was listening to the work session mayor yes I just noticed another issue or possible issue are we sure that Melissa Gonzalez is pastor of Oak Lutheran Church I
thought she was a had a different I don't remember her specifying that her testimony and I don't know if that's correct she is actually the pastor of tapestry okay so I would I would move that we amend it do can we just say Pastor instead of specifying or it does say that she's the pastor of
oakor liing Church it does yeah so I believe she's simply identified herself as a pastor with the congregation in Richfield not specifying so you we can delete Oak grve Lutheran Church yeah I think just Melissa Mel Gonzalez Pastor all right so do you you're moving to
amend the I will move to amend as described the the motion as amended so again I am I am moving and we're only considering whether we remove the pH Oar of Lutheran from the section about so is there a
second sorry oh I motion to approve the amended Amendment of the minutes okay so we never had this much complication on minute so the motion before us is to to correct and delete Oak grve Lutheran
Church okay so that it just says Melissa Melnick Gonzalez Pastor any further discussion on that Amendment all all in favor please say I I all opposed okay so we fixed that so now we're back to the
original motion to pass both sets of minutes as amended and there's three things we've already uh addressed the oak grve Lutheran Church deletion we're correcting Miss Perez's name and we're also correcting which council member ask
about the emergency things so we have a motion and a second and is there any further discussion all right well thank you for all for your careful reading and all in favor please say I I all
opposed and city clerk friederick was that clear to you all right thank you thank you so much all right next we'll move on to our Proclamation celebrating Black History Month and so I would like to invite Carol Kelly from the Human Rights
Commission to meet me and receive the proclamation I'll okay all right so I'm going to move the microphone really close because they said they were having trouble hearing us and we'll be talking very loudly so this is a proclamation of the city of
Richfield whereas each February during Black History Month the United States honor the contribution and sacrifice of African-Americans who have helped shape the nation and whereas the city of Richfield Minnesota also takes pride in
recognizing February 2025 as Black History Month we want to honor the many notable contributions that people of African descent have made to the United States including our community and to celebrate the rich cultural heritage
triumphs and adversities that are an indelible part of our country's history and whereas we celebrate the diversity of black people in Richfield the state of Minnesota our nation and the black diaspora whether they self-identify as
African African-American afro Latino afro Caribbean or black and whereas in January of 2025 the city of Richfield swore in the first black female council member Rory Coleman woods and whereas AF
Americans of African descent are responsible for more than 50,000 inventions with the US patent office that are used every day that improve the lives of Americans such as home security systems traffic lights refrigerated trucks and color monitors and whereas
the city of Richfield its city council and staff identify diversity and Equity as core values recognizing that our diverse culture is one of our greatest strengths and assets striving to promote environment of equity and inclusion and
whereas the Richfield Human Rights Commission supported this Proclamation at its February 4th 20125 meeting and recommended the Richfield city council do the same and now therefore I Mary Supple mayor of Richfield on behalf of
the Richfield city council do hereby proclaim the month of February 2025 as Black History Month in the city of Richfield and call on the people of Richfield to observe this month with appropriate programs activities and ceremonies and to continue to honor the
contributions of black Americans throughout the year Proclaim this 11th day of February 2025 so thank you would you like to say a few words um thank you it's really um an honor to be able to bring this as a
member of the HRC to the city we all collaborate in compiling these proclamations and deciding kind of what we're going to feature as a an afro Caribbean um Richfield resident I was so
proud to see you saor in councilman Coleman Woods um council person excuse me um so so and we chose about eight years ago to have Richfield be our home with my biracial children because it is
a beautifully diverse um Community we have a beautifully diverse neighborhood and it's a place we feel safe as a black family um and a place where we know that the city is really vested in um honoring
all of us during this this month so thank you thank you so much oh you want a picture I'm proud of our city for going uh to taking taking the extra step to recognize Black History Month and yeah
I'm proud of our accomplishments thus far um as a lifelong Rich resident this is um this means a lot to me so thank you so much mayor appreciate your your help and the Human Rights Commission thank you for your contribution did anyone else wish to add
anything council member Burke please send your thanks to the Human Rights Commission this is one of the one of the important things that that commission does and it's the yearly reminders of all the different people who live in the city who make it a great City and it's great that we have these proclamations
to remind us every year of that importance so thank you both of that all right did anyone else wish to speak and I would like to reiterate thank you to the Human Rights Commission and I'm very proud of the city of Richfield and I'm glad that we're celebrating black history month so if
there any other comments or questions all right then we'll move on to the next item on the agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda moved second it's been moved and seconded to
approve the agenda is there any discussion all in favor of approving the agenda please say I I all opposed we have approved the agenda thank you our next item is the consent calendar and I'll turn it over to acting
city manager Tong V all right thank you the consent calendar contains several SE separate items which are acted upon by the city council in one motion once the consent calendar has been approved the individual items uh recommended for
Action have also been approved nor no further counil action on these items are necessary however any council member May request that an item be removed from the consent calendar and placed on the regular agenda for Council discussion and action all items listed on the
consent calendar are recommended for approval consent agenda item a consider the approval of the second reading of an ordinance Amendment pertaining to city code section 925 period 01 public nuisance
subdivision 2 the city council approved the first reading on January 28th 2025 and then consent Item B consider a resolution authorizing that a designation of $1 million in the city of Richfield capital reserve fund to serve as Assurance for
the funding of the wood Lake Nature Center building project for the purpose of releasing funds from the 2023 state of Minnesota Corporation Bill administered by the Minnesota Department of or the Minnesota Department of e of
employment and economic development in the amount of $12 million consent item C consider the approval of the First Amendment to the foundational Public Health responsibility agreement with the city of Bloomington and consent item number D
consider approval of a Fifth Amendment to the agreement of the city of Bloomington for the provision of Public Health Services for the city of Richfield for 2025 thank you is there a motion to accept the consent
calendar also move second it's been moved and seconded to um approve all of all of the items on the consent calendar is there any discussion all right all in favor please say I I I all opposed and we have
approved the items on the consent calendar next I'm going to turn it over to council member Christensen for item number five thank you mayor this is to a request for site plan approval of an
entirely new Wood Lake Nature Center building at 6710 Lakeshore Drive hga who is the applicant on behalf of the Richfield Recreation services department has submitted an application for the site plan approval to construct a new
Wood Lake Nature Center building at 6710 Lakeshore Drive as most parks in the city the property is zoned are low density residential governmental buildings are a permitted use in this District site plan review is required
due to the construction of a new building the proposed site plan is designed to provide a new one-story building that will be twice the size of the existing building the new building will be 40 feet farther from the lake and 80 feet closer to the street it will
be characterized by dark brown wood siding and green roof forms in the interior it will include an improved Lobby exhibits lounge and Conference spaces multi-purpose rooms for educational programming and rentals and
Staff office space the parking lot will be improved through the addition of landscaping perimeter plantings and electric vehicle Chargers but it will remain mostly unchanged construction is set to begin in the spring of this year
completing in the spring/summer of 2026 no variances are requested as part of the project Pro but there are certain modifications necessary in regard to Landscaping requirements as discussed in the policy section of this document the
staff finds these modifications reasonable based on the unique nature of the property and the Project's sustainability and energy reduction features staff recommends approval of the project subject to the conditions listed in the draft resolution of
approval does the city have anything to add thank you council member Christians and members of the council I really don't this is uh one of the final steps in this very long process an exciting process to build a wood Lake Nature Center but in terms of a land use
application this is very straightforward um I think the staff report lays it out well and I'm happy to answer any questions are there any questions for staff um council member heyeri um yeah I am also of course very
excited and of course we've had several opportuni to get feedback on this um in our capacity as part of the applicant um but from this perspective I'm just wondering uh or wanting to confirm so this is within our parking maximum it sounds like it is maxed out of what we would allow without a
variance yes that is my understanding um there are a lot of events that happen at the Nature Center and so yes they have asked to maximize but still within our allowances okay and if I remember correctly if you if you don't know you don't have to confirm this but I remember correctly that it doesn't
really account for the use of the park it is really just based on the building that the parking allowances are determined uh council member he I did not calculate the parking so I can't answer that I could check with the planners though to confirm it does not affect my vote tonight but I guess I would say I would I would have more
concern again from the applicant side not from the land use approval side about us maxing out parking but based on my understanding that it doesn't account for General Park use I think it's reasonable um I am glad to see that being brought within compliance rather than getting a variance ourselves for that rule because I think that rule does
have value and then just a small request I don't think I'm not asking for any formal change but if Community Development can perhaps show other examples of the front parking right next to a sidewalk and how you've recommended other users protect the sidewalk from
overhanging vehicles with wheel stops or with widening that area um it' be helpful to look at that because a a large pickup truck could obstruct That Sidewalk um those are my only concerns otherwise it looks great and I'm excited to support it are there any other questions for community development director
palman if there's no further questions like to adopt a resolution make a motion to adopt the resolution approving the site plan for a new Wood Lake Nature Center building at 6710 Lakes Shore Drive it's been moved and seconded is
there any further discussion I'm very excited to see this moving forward so we had a work session earlier tonight talking about the exhibits as well and so it was just fun to see all of it coming together so looking forward to the final
results any other discussions all in favor please say I I all opposed and we have adopted the resolution thank you next we'll move on to item number six and that's going to be presented by council member
heyeri thank you and we've got another wood like item here this item is ma Mortenson Construction proposed guaranteed maximum price for the construction of wood Lake Nature Center uh ma Mortenson Construction has developed a guaranteed maximum price GMP estimate of
2,378 this estimate includes the building General site improvements and the amphitheater adjacent to the building this GMP is based on bids Mortenson received for each scope of work needed for construction the bids were made from drawings and specifications created by h GA
Architects during the design development phase of the wood Lake Nature Center building project which in turn were created based on feedback from residents City counil and staff bidding for each scope of work followed the competitive bidding guidelines outlined in State Statute and received multiple bids
during this process the GMP document contains six Alternatives and their corresponding costs these alter alternates can be added expanding the scope of the project staff recommended approval of exhibit a amending the contract with Morton company for the Wood Lake Nature Center building project
to set the guaranteed maximum price for the construction of the wood Lake Nature Center building and the surrounding site at 21, 378,000 completing design work and waiting to accept either of these alternate options will provide time to better understand the risk associated
with site conditions and the proposed tariffs both of which could significantly impact costs the decision to include the snowmelt system and or the underground duct work will need to be made before the risks related to tariffs and site conditions can be fully understood or
mitigated staff is recommending uh maintaining a significant contingency 3 to 4% of the project cost based on that guaranteed maximum price in place until the building's footings and structural supports are completed um does staff have anything to
add um we I not have anything to add at the moment other than this will kick off the process for starting construction allow us to secure um uh contractors for procuring the framing and and everything for the building so this is a big kind
of a big step forward once we if we're able to do this I did have a question we had talked at the work session and you said there was new information about the alternates ver like the snow melt system versus the
underground duck work when will we will we be having a work session to talk about that or is that something we should weigh in on this evening or what's the format yeah um it's some uh mayor it's um something that can be brought back back at a future date although if you want to make a decision
today that would allow us to focus our efforts in design and whatnot um I can repeat the we've been researching both the Blue Duck system and the snowmelt system and a couple of items we've learned about the snowmelt system is that um currently at Wood Lake we don't
use any salt we only use sand um and with the new configuration of the sidewalks it'll be much easier to manage uh water runoff that freezes or snow melt or um just snow in general with the new configuration additionally if we were to add the snow melt system it
would mean taking away some of our um outdoor fenced in space because we'd have to add an extension to the building to house a a electric boiler that would do the snow melt system um which would also increase op long-term operating
costs for the building um yeah so with that additional information I know in the past I had thought it would be great to have a snow melt system to avoid the salt but I'd be solving a problem that we don't have and it sounds like it would be better um to
choose the underground duck work over the snow melt so I'm just going to change what I've said in past work sessions I do like the fact that we're doing the orx glazing and for anybody that's listening that is a protective film so that we don't have bird strikes so I don't know if other people want to
weigh in on any um in feedback on the alternates council member L yeah I will just share I I share your revised preference I agree with staff prioritizing the glazing Above All Else But between those two items especially hearing now that there are both logistical issues with doing the snow
melt and that it may be a less of an issue I really think getting that underground duck work is important that room has been a priority and the multi-functionality beyond the Wood Lake programming has been important so I think getting that as nice as it possibly can be is important to me and I hope that is the chosen
alternate any other feedback on the alternates council member Burke wasn't uh one concern or possibility was adding additional underground heating for or under floor heating for staff locations
is that correct yeah that was one other one of the other alternates there was to add additional so we already have INF Flor Heating and key spaces so the building will be comfortable but it would just be adding an extra extra layer of comfort there um so that is another alternate that's available
um as as we think about it um in terms of where we have where the priority is and also um maintaining a contingency until we get out of the ground um as staff see it the blue duct would be the
priority for us um and with when the contingent contingency can be spent because the risk from getting out of to before we get out of the ground is is realized um it'd be uh difficult to maintain our
contingency and have all of those um alternates at the same time as long as I have a chance later on to voice of opinion about this I think I'll think about it some more but thank you for the information other feedback on the
alternates are there other questions for um director go ahead I I did have a question about the concerns about the geothermal system could you say a little more about that and how how much could it affect the the
price if it's not as conducive to having a geothermal system yeah so we're still going to be able to do the geothermal system um we did a conductivity test in order to determine the size the system will need to be and what came back is it's it's something like 30% um less
conductive than we expected um so that just means that we need to um either create a larger geothermal field so more Wells or have larger equipment there so those both would have cost impacts um it's not an either or it's kind of a
gradient we can have big a little bit bigger equipment and a little bit bigger geothermal field um the as we've been looking at it um we see the maximum impact of that is about $200,000 um which is part of why we have the larger contingency there as we're
going through that design process our hope is that it's less than that but um don't know at this point think that helps thank you so director Hugh Miller are they still thinking about doing the wells under the current parking lot is that yeah yes the uh current plan is to
do them under the current parking lot and that's part of the tradeoffs is if we add more Wells it means we need to expand the well field and how much are we willing to do that without impacting the park land other questions comments um council member hey for lar
and this is just a clarification when this is done will the parking lot be fully repaved or will some of it be the existing material um the lower parking lot will be fully repaved and the that means the the larger one closer to Lindale uh yes the larger one the the
other one will just be trimmed down basically or yeah so the um walking path across will turn into grass and then the upper lot so the Western parking lot will be remain the same paving that is there currently okay thanks for clarifying yeah I'm just um just excited
about this and particularly thank you for all all of your work specifically director H Miller um this has come a long way I think it's going to be such a cool landmark and it's great to see some of the pieces of feedback some of the priority items that Council expressed um I particularly seen the Big W pedestrian path that I really love to see to
Lakeshore Drive so thank you for all this and all the details you've you've considered and continue to consider like in the work session tonight on the exhibits um in terms of our approvals are there other Council items that you anticipate happening after this or will this be the main Council action on this um this is the
main Council action on this um we will most likely bring the alternates back okay at a later date okay thank you that's helpful to know what the next steps are are there any other questions go ahead all right I will move
that we approve exhibit a amending the contract with ma Mortenson company for the Wood Lake Nature Center building project to set the guaranteed maximum price for the construction of the wood Lake Nature Center building and surrounding site at 21, 37865 and authorize the mayor and city
manager to execute the amendment and make adjustments of up to $175,000 or as appropriate based on the listed alternates for the project I'll second that it's been moved and seconded is there any discussion I just want to again thank
you for this this is going to be just amazing to get this thing started so thank you and I did have one other question for the viewing public I know we've asked this before but can you explain the cliffnotes version of a guaranteed maximum price and how that
works and what we might be responsible for if something go if there's a cost overrun yeah so the guaranteed maximum price is the maximum what will pay for the scope that is defined within this document so um if there um if there are
things like un the bids come in a little bit higher than we expected that won't be on the city that'll be on Mortenson as the construction manager if there are design changes or unexpected conditions that aren't listed in this in this document then um the city would be
responsible for those one of the biggest ones is tariffs those would get passed through to the city if tariffs were put in place but Morton would not have any profit on those tariffs it would just be a direct path pass through thank you that's helpful so the
risk is spread out a a little bit and um if anybody hasn't looked at the packet that's watching this you can look and it lists off you can go online and look the construction risks that we would be taking so we talked about the geothermal system and we talked about the tariffs
and the other one is if there were any unexpected conditions when you start Excavating and you find something there that you're not expecting so any other questions comments and I would also like to thank everybody for all their work on this and
I want to thank the community for um voting to let us allow us to go forward with this I'm very excited to see what's going to happen at Wood Lake Nature Center and about this investment so we have a motion before us and a second to approve the contract with
martensson all in favor please say I I all opposed and we have approved the contract thank you next we'll move on to the city manager report all right thank you so much and claims and
payroll I move approval of claims and payroll second it's been moved and seconded to approve claims and payroll are there any comments questions hearing none all in favor of approving claims and payroll please say
I I I all opposed we've approved the claims and payroll next we'll move on to the hats off for HomeTown hits and let's see I don't think we've started with um council member Christensen lately so we'll let you do the honors okay thank
you mayor I'd like to give a hats off uh to the park and Parks and Recreation Department of the city here I recently received uh the uh summer catalog for the different events that are happening in the city through the parks department
and if you haven't received it yet it should be coming in your mail this week and they have a lot of variety a lot of things for all ages and it just doesn't include the um see it right here it just doesn't include the uh for children but
for adults and not only for the uh locations at Wood Lake Nature Center this year being moved to other locations because of the construction but at the community center as well well so a lot of variety so thank you then we'll move on to
council member Burke um none today thank you all right council member hey foter lry I have no items tonight all right thank you council member Coleman Woods I don't have any items in tonight
either all right thank you so um council member Christensen and I were able to go to the Met council state of the region and that I just want to give a hats off to the Met counil um they were explaining the Wastewater systems the
our Metro drinking water supply they were also talking about Transit and there was a great panel discussion so I would encourage people to go on their website if they want to learn more about the Met Council and then finally we have I want to give a hats off to our
assistant utility superintendent um Chad Don he was part of a group that helped bring clean drinking water to a rural Village of 2,000 people he is um a travel mentor and a
supporting engineer for the University of Wisconsin Delo students from Engineers Without Borders and together with those students they designed a system and raised funds for the project and the team built Wells pipelines and solar powered pumping system to deliver
safe water throughout the village and again that was a village of 2,000 people that now have water in Nan Sakia Kenya so hats off to Chad Donnelly our assistant Su um utility superintendent so is there anything else
that anyone like to add all right then I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting second I I will second uh council members Comm with's motion all right it's been moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting all in favor please say I I
all opposed and the meeting