All right. Good evening everyone. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Richfield City Council. It's March 10th at 700 PM. If you're able, please rise and join us with the Pledge of Allegiance. flags
for all. >> Thank you. Next, we'll move on to approval of the agenda. >> I move approval of the agenda. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion?
All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed. And we have approved the agenda. Our next item of business are the minutes from the city council work session from February 17th, the city council work session from February 24th, and the regular city council meeting
from February 24th. >> I move to approve the minutes. Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve all three sets of minutes. Are there any corrections or changes? Then we will go ahead and vote. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. All opposed.
And we have approved all three sets of minutes. Next, we'll move on to the open forum. If you haven't already, please fill out a card to sign up for it. Right now, we have five people signed up. So, I think
we'll be fine within our normal 30 minutes um of time for open forum. Um when you get called to the um podium, please tell us your name and your city of residence. If you have not already filled a card out, you either need to
fill a card out or sign the um signin sheet so we can put your name in the public record. You'll have three minutes to speak um in order to help you figure out your timing. I'll let know when you have 30 seconds left with the yellow card and when time is up with the red
card. So at this point we have one second here. So we have Marjorie Hurtis um up to speak and after that will be Teresa Guthrie on deck.
So go ahead. >> My name is Marjorie Herdis. I live at the Grammarc Cooperative for seniors. Um, I'd like to start by thanking you for giving us this opportunity to share our experience of the ICE invasion and
also I want to thank you for the work you do for our community. I don't envy you your job right now. Um, recently I was invited from some folks at assisted living facility here in Richfield. They asked me to come and
look with them about how they can get their voices out, about protecting democracy and responding to the ICE experience. In that conversation, someone asked them what would happen if their health
helpers, people who are often immigrants or people of color, were not to show up some morning. and one of the men there said, "I would die." So, I'm here to share their voice and
ask you to take their voice into consideration when you look at the costs to the community, not just in terms of business loss, which is important, but also psychological trauma. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Next we have Teresa Guthrie and on deck is Nicole Cleland. >> Hi, I'm Tesri. Uh I live infield. I've been here a little over a year
and um I had seen Uh, Chief O'Brien address concerns for mental health for the police
because of ICE and what's happened uh the surge. Um, and I was very touched and moved and glad that he spoke up. Um, I think that's
probably a hard thing to do. Um, I would also add that I think it's not just the police that need mental health support. Uh the ice surge has been so horrific
and created so much damage and uh I know for myself I have felt so sad [snorts] and um so in these times I have to really try
to be grateful [snorts] and I am grateful. ful for the city of Richfield and for so many kind, caring people. [snorts] Um, there are other things that I was going
to share that I'm grateful for, but they're escaping me. Um, I think that ICE, who has a tremendously huge budget, thanks to our tax dollars, are the ones that need to pay
for our mental health [snorts] services and the repairs, the damage they have caused our community. I was deeply touched today when I was out patrolling. One of the parents at the school where I
was patrolling is [snorts] one of my former students from Richfield who I had 19 years ago. [snorts] And it brought me such joy to see her and she expressed gratitude
and let me know I made a difference in her life. [snorts] That was so deeply moving. and um to see that she has done so well and is so successful in
the community. I'm deeply grateful. So, I [snorts] thank you. >> Thank you. Um next we have Nicole Lee um Cleland and on deck is Jenny MREN.
>> Good evening. I'm Nicole Cleland, longtime resident of Richfield. Ice remains an issue in our city. Richfield community members are still actively figuring out ride shares to get people to work, to get people to medical appointments safely. Figuring out donations for food and delivery of that
food and for covering rent for our vulnerable committee community. Jobs have been lost, breadwinners are gone. I hope you are aware of the number of causes and donations that Richfield residents are doing and continue to
support. I ask the council not to lose sight of the ongoing need and where the council can continue to help Richfield residents and businesses that you continue to do so. Secondly, I came before you over a month ago to share my runin with ICE while
legally observing and that they knew me by name. I'm still working to understand how they knew me by name. Um, I am connected with many news outlets, local, national, and now surprisingly even international,
as well as many attorneys. There are a lot of privacy concerns being uncovered. Richfield responded very quickly to my request for additional information, and it appears that there is no record of my driver's license information being shared,
at least not directly, from the city of Richfield. My question to you is, are you aware of the potential that the FBI or ed other federal bodies of government are able to access this data without you knowing?
I've heard other residents sharing concerns about Flock and how that data is used, and I'm now adding my voice. It seems very possible that data from Flock and other technologies can be used for surveillance beyond its intended
use. What is the council doing to continue to learn about this, to educate yourselves, to ensure that the technology that you are okay with being used in our city isn't going beyond the intended scope. Thank you for your time.
>> Thank you. Next, we have Jenny Morren and on deck is Alicia Waters. Hi, I'm Jenny Warren, a Richfield resident. Before I start, um I believe 12A is referencing something from the
last council meeting where the city manager asked to be able to allocate funds to nonprofits for things that the city or she deemed helpful to the community.
Is that correct? Is that what 12 is vote? >> I believe so. It we'll we'll discuss it when it comes up, but it's um city manager Rodriguez. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor. So, uh two
separate requests. We have a social services budget that is an annual budget that we contract for services with various nonprofits in the community. That's been done for years.
And then last meeting there was a request to um increase that budget by $5,000 up to $10,000 to make uh to have an additional agreement to help with those cars that
are abandoned as a result of ICE enforcement. And I'll give some more information on that during the city manager report later tonight. >> So it's specifically for cars. I'll get more information at >> I don't want to launch into something that if it's not applicable at that
meeting the council had said we'll table this until there can be more so we can give an opportunity for the residents to weigh in on it and I feel like that was reasonable and that was the right thing
to do. However, if this now you're voting on this I think it's a little disingenuous last week or two weeks ago to have And then today now we're going to vote on it and there hasn't been as far as I know far as I've seen anything where we've asked residents to weigh in on
this. This is not your personal checkbook. See a lot of residents carrying no king signs. Pretty sure they mean no queens too. So, I feel like if we're going to start allocating city money for um
for things that we believe the the community should have, the taxpayers should have a say in I believe we need to have more of an opportunity for the taxpayers to actually weigh in on this. I don't know that it is broadly
understood what that is about and so I'm just asking That's what this is for. That you table that until we can get some form of I don't know if you want to do a survey or something like that to really
understand what the taxpayers of this city want. We pay a lot of taxes here. Lot of taxes. It's crazy high. And I know it's not just Richfield, state of Minnesota, Henipin County. It all adds up. And to not let
residents weigh in on the precious dollars that we have to spend on things like parks, our roadways, whatever it is. And to just say, okay, we're just gonna decide this is good for the community and we're going to go with it without any checks and balances, I think
is a mistake. And I ask that that be tabled until we can get more resut. >> Thank you. Next we have Alicia Waters. My name is Alicia Waters and I live in
Richfield. Today I want to talk about Richfield's climate action plan. Overall, I want to say well done. I think it's a generally a good plan with clear goals and objectives and I think there are some gaps. One gap I want to talk about tonight is related to outdoor lighting in the city. Under goal one,
develop and promote energy efficiency. Objective 2.3 is develop and implement a plan to replace existing XL metered and flat rate highpressure sodium street lights with LED street lights. While this sounds good for energy efficiency, there are other considerations and I believe an even better solution. What I
would like the city of Richfield to do is one, reduce the number of lights that are on at night to reduce emissions, save money, and improve the health of residents and wildlife. and two of the lights that are actually necessary. Reduce the brightness to increase safety and navigability
because bright lights blind and make us less safe. Install amber colored lights. Install shields to direct lighting only where it is needed. So it does not trespass where it is not needed or wanted such as my yard and my house and in and around natural areas. and utilize
motion sensor lights so that lights are only on when they are actually needed instead of having them on at all hours of the night, creating light pollution and harming both human health and the environment. I don't know the amount of emissions that outdoor lighting produces and it may be small in the grand scheme of
things, but when the city's goal is to reduce emissions by 23% over the next four years, every bit helps. Reducing the number of lights that we have on at night would also save us money and done well, it will not have a negative effect on safety. I did a search for scientific studies on artificial lights at night
and there were over 25,000 results. I did not have time to look at them all. From stud from such studies though, we know the following. Light at night disrupts sleep and biological processes related to circadian rhythms resulting in adverse health outcomes including
increased rates of cancer. Light at night has similar and negative effects on wildlife. Light pollution is an environmental stressor on mammals, birds, fish, insects, and even plants. It affects sleep, movement, predation, growth, feeding behavior, and reproductive success, such as the ability of fireflies to find each other.
Artificial light at night is linked to social v vulnerability and thus is also an equity and environmental justice issue. Because of these reasons, the issue of outdoor lighting isn't just part of goal one of the climate action plan. It also directly and clearly connects to goals five and eight and indirectly to goals 2, three, four, six,
seven, and nine, which is all of them. It is a crosscutting issue and a relatively simple action to implement if the city does so thoughtfully and with intention. Again, reduce the number of lights that city has on at night. We don't need them and on behalf of the wild residents and neighbors of Richfield, we don't want them. For those
lights that are necessary, they should be dimmer, amber, and cumber color shielded and should utilize motion sensors. The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Bloomington uses lights like these on the sidewalks along the parking lot. And I encourage all of you to go down there to see for
yourselves how cool they are. I want this for Richfield. It is a winwinwinwin for everyone. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak for open form? And then after you speak, can you fill
out a card? Thank you. >> Hi Ava. um Mcnite of Richfield and I'm seconding um I was I had the opportunity to go to the work group that you had two
weeks ago and um impressed with all the things that you're doing um the considerations you're making for invasive species um planning for all um
pavement uses And um the one there are a couple things that I had questions about and one was lighting. Um and imperative to keep uh low lighting for wild habitat as well as those of us
who have eye issues. Um you might see that I'm having a really hard time seeing right now. And um when I walk in Vets Park, the parking lot lights from vehicles as well as the um
parking lot lights are just blaring and blind me. So it's actually unsafe for me to have that kind of lighting. Um and then the other question I had was h if the um the consultants had mentioned the
birding people who are burers that frequent Vets Park. Um, and I wondered if they have been consulted because there there are a number of um issues that they might have input on.
So, that that was one of my questions, but thank you very much for all the work you're doing on that. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? And if if you could fill out a card, that would be great. Take these over to
the clerk. Thank you to everyone for participating in the open forum. We appreciate it. Our next item of business is the presenting of a proclamation celebrating Women's History Month. And we have two members of the Human Rights Commission, Angela
Mixon and Mixon and Kim Loots. And if you could meet me up at the microphone to receive the proclamation. Thank you. Thank you for joining us and thank you to the Human Rights Commission. This is a proclamation of the city of Richfield. Whereas Women's History Month
is for celebrating the achievements of all women, including women of color, women of the LGBTQIA2S plus community, women of all abilities, and women of all religions. And whereas women of the indigenous nation of the
Dakota peoples have lived on this land now known as the city of Ridgefield for thousands of years. And whereas President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 7th Women's History Week and later the United States Congress declared w March Women's History Month
in 1987. And whereas women have served courageously throughout our history in all aspects of our society and deserve to be recognized and respected for their contributions. And whereas the city of Richfield was honored to have the first Latina mayor,
Maria Regan Gonzalez, in the state of Minnesota. And whereas the city has a number of women representing the first in their department, and they're all here tonight. Kristen Asher is the first woman public works director, Melissa Paleman is the first woman community
development director, and Janelle Brooks is the first woman fire chief of the city of Richfield. And whereas Edwina Garcia, former Richfield council member, served as the first Hispanic woman in the Minnesota State
House of Representatives. And whereas Debbie Goautel was the first woman mayor of the city of Richfield. And whereas the city of Richfield is in Minnesota's fifth congressional district and is represented by the first Somali Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar. And whereas
the city of Richfield affirms its commitment to supporting and uplifting women of all races, abilities, and religions to ensure a better future for all members of our community. Now therefore, I, Mary Supple, mayor of the city of Richfield, do proclaim the month
of March 2026 as Women's 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 continue to honor the contributions of women Americans throughout the year. Proclaim
this 10th day of March, 2026. Thank you. And if you'd like to say a few words, and I think they want to get a picture. It's a privilege to be here to recognize Women's History Month and to honor the amazing contributions of w that women have made throughout history. As someone
who grew up in Richfield, it is especially meaningful to remember the accomplishments of the strong women leaders of Richfield, even from way back in my day, who paved the way for future generations, who inspired us to climb up over barriers and taught us that there
is a place for women in government and in public service. Thank you. [clears throat] >> All right. Um, I stand here to accept this proclamation for Women's History Month on behalf of the community that has been through fire.
Sorry. We have all felt the heavy weight of the federal occupation, but in that struggle, I have been humbled to see the matriarchy of the city really take its grip. I want to be clear about what matriarchy is. It isn't about one group replacing another group. It's about
reorganizing power itself. It isn't a ladder. It's a circle of fierce people surrounding our most vulnerable neighbors and the children to keep them safe when the world feels uncertain creating safety in the fact that it is understood sometimes we will find
ourselves inside the circle and other times we will be standing guard. The movement we have seen here has been built by the courage of women of this city. It is led by their vision, their care and utmost integrity. Our circle is
strengthened with allies who chose to stand in the gaps with us. I accept this honor alongside every person who refused to let go of each other's hands, who clung to each other when power tried everything to tear our community apart. This is the legacy we carry from the
women who came before us and into the struggle we face today. A history of refusing to break and a present line where we continue to hold the line. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to the consent calendar. 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 B, consider approval of a resolution authorizing staff to accept a Henipin County Lifeguard Services Grant in the amount of 50,000 to assist with funding the hiring and retention of lifeguard
staff at the Richfield outdoor pool and authorizing staff to enter into the agreement, execute the funds as prescribed. Item C, consider the approval of a resolution authorizing City of Richfield Recreation Services Director Carl Hume
Miller to submit a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources outdoor recreation grant in the amount of 500,000 for the Veterans Park improvement project on behalf of the city of Richfield and is authorized to execute such agreements as necessary to implement the project. Item
D, consider approval of a resolution authorizing staff to enter into a source water protection grant agreement with the Minnesota Department of Health for a grant in the amount of $11,2826 to be used to support of Richfield's cross connection and backflow prevention
program. And I submit these items for your consideration as part of tonight's consent calendar. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar? >> So moved. Second. >> It's been moved and second. And is there any discussion?
>> All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed. And we have approved the consent calendar. Next, we'll be moving on to item 11A. And I'll turn that over to Council Member Coleman Woods. >> Thank you, Mayor. [clears throat]
Excuse me. Uh the items for consideration tonight are the labor agreement with an international association of firefighters local 1215 firefighters lieutenants and captains for 2026 and 2027. A two-year labor agreement has been reached with the international
association of the fire of firefighters local 1215 bargaining unit. The contract takes place or takes effect January 1st, 2026 and will remain in effect until through in effect through December 31st of 2027. The agreement provides a cost
of living adjustment, a market adjustment, and additional steps for captains and an increased clothing and equipment allowance to support recruitment, retention, and internal pay equity. Primary changes include a 2026 3% COLA or cost of living adjustment
plus 20.25% 25% market adjustment, a 2027 3% cost of living adjustment, a 2026 clothing and equipment allowance increase from $800 to $850, and a 2027 clothing and equipment allowance increase from $850 to $900.
New hires will receive a carcinogenic resistance turnout gear bag starting in 2026. The captain's pay scale will have an additional step, providing a 1% increase from the prior step after an employee completes five years of service
in the captain rank. Additionally, local 1215 members will receive the same insurance benefits, including access to the new Minnesota paid leave program as all other employee groups. And I would the recommended action is to adopt a resolution approving the provisions of
the 2026 2027 labor agreement with the International Association of Firefighters Local 1215 and authorize the city manager to execute the agreements. Is there any discussion? >> Did staff have anything they wanted to add?
>> Thank you, mayor, council members. Uh my name is Zon. from the assistant city manager and I just I'm mainly here to answer any questions that the council may have. Uh but I also wanted to thank everyone that was involved uh especially our city manager for her guidance in the
process. Uh I also wanted to thank our staff that has been involved this year with it and then also Chief Brooks with her assistance and and guidance from uh negotiation with the unions. Uh, but I also wanted to thank the stewards and then especially I wanted to thank the
dedicated firefighters of Richfield and their dedication to the community and their surrounding cities that we also also support. So, I wanted to thank involved in >> Thank you. So, did you want to go ahead and make the motion?
>> Yeah, I move to adopt a resolution. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second it. Okay, we're open for discussion. Um, Council Member Burke, >> just a quick comment. I just want to repeat and duplicate your your thanks to everyone involved. Union process is
difficult definitely um but it's an important right that people have and I'm glad to see that it was productive and that everyone reached an agreement. So again, I want to thank all involved. I know it was difficult but it's good that we can move on with some certainty. So
thank you all for your efforts. And I I would also like to thank both parties, both the um the unions and the city staff for negotiating in good faith because I think that's a really important part of this process and we end up with a better agreement through that process. So, thank you to everybody
that was involved. Is there any other comments? All right. All in favor, please say I. I. I. >> All oppose. And we have adopted the agreement. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to consider um item
11B, and I'll turn that over to Council Member Burke. >> So, the item for consideration is to consider a resolution of support from Metro Transit's recommendation to route the Kline bus rapid transit line on Nicollet Avenue through Richfield.
Metro Transit has completed their arterial bus rapid transit or RBRT study and has recommended that the Kline alignment use Nicollet Avenue through the city of Richfield. Metro Transit is requesting a resolution of support from
the city for this project. Arterial BRT planning manager Kyle O'Donnell Burroughs will be providing a brief presentation and will be available for any follow-up questions. >> Uh good evening, council member. Thank you. Uh my name is Kylo Donald Burroughs. Uh and I'm here to share some
information about our art BRT plan update and the process we use to arrive at our recommendation for um the Kline to be routed on uh on Nicollet Avenue through the city of Richfield. Uh I'll start us off with a little bit
of a process recap which will include a little bit of background about what arterial BRT actually is. Many of you are of course familiar with that. Uh the Dline operates today through the city of Richfield on Portland and connects into South Minneapolis and and up through
North Minneapolis. Um we'll talk a little bit about the the process we took to get to this point and our recommendations including the justification for our recommendation for the Kine through the city of Richfield and then talk a little bit about some of our next steps. Uh so first taking a half step back,
what is arterial BRT? Artio Bert is a style of transit service of bus transit service that provides a faster, more reliable ride and a more comfortable experience for our riders. So, we have fewer stops per mile. So, that allows the bus to go faster and those stops are
located where most people ride the bus. So, we still keep those where many people are, but it stops much less often, so the bus can go a lot faster. Same thing with near-level boarding and paying your fair before you get on the bus. These are things that, you know,
people already be ready to board the bus prior to the bus pulling up to the station so that they're not having to queue up in the front uh front door of the bus and and folks having to wait for folks to get on. We have multiple doors where passengers can get on the bus by either the front door or the rear doors,
again allowing for more uh for faster boarding. And we use what's called transit signal priority. So that holds the green light a little bit longer uh or shortens the red light a little bit just a bit to kind of help the bus get through that signal. This is not like uh
emergency vehicle preeemption uh so it doesn't it doesn't uh uh change a red light but it short it adjusts it a little bit to allow the bus go through. And we paired those physical improvements with faster with more frequent service so that uh folks are
waiting for the bus much less often. um so that you can just walk out to the bus stop without having to check your schedule, get on the bus and get to where you're going. Uh so Metro Transit has currently eight of these lines either in operation or
planned by 2030. Uh so that's a line through Hline and that includes the Dline which operates today through the city of Richfield. Our task with the 2025 arterial BRT plan update which is what is recommending the Kline here uh today was to identify the next three
lines. So the J line, the Kline and the Line. These lines are planned to open between now uh sorry between 2030 and 2035 and of course those specific schedules are being refined right now and will continue to be refined. Uh so our task was really to identify
where should those next lines go. We took a four-step process to help us answer that question. Starting from a wide set of candidate corridors and really working our way down through a series of screening and evaluation steps where we rule out some lines through that screening step and then rank those
remaining lines based on technical criteria based on how well will arterial BRT actually do on that particular corridor and then based on that work help select those next lines uh through a series of readiness considerations.
Starting with that first step, identify. This is just a highlevel map that shows us where we started. So we had 17 corridors that really kind of covered the gamut across our entire region here, including several in the city of Richfield. We started from these and applied a screening criteria to help us
narrow down to those most promising corridors, which resulted in this map here. We advanced 11 corridors to that second step. We took these corridors and evaluated them based on technical uh criteria um which we'll get into in just a moment and really sort of ranked
these. You can see on the background of this map is a series of blue and green um you know kind of background areas. Those really those are what are called transit market areas. And those help Metroransit and the Metropolitan Council identify the areas that we expect there
to be the highest level of transit ridership uh based on things like population density, employment density uh and jobs, those types of things. The city of Richfield is uh almost fully within is fully within what's called market area 2. So that's not our highest
ridership zone, but it's our next highest ridership zone. So we do expect and actually do see quite a bit of transit ridership in the city of Richfield and uh regional policy directs us to focus arterial BRT investments. So what we're talking about today in those
two blue areas which includes the city of Richfield. This slide here shows us those technical evaluation results. So that third step we evaluated each of these corridors based on four criteria. What is our expected ridership? How well does that
uh corridor advance equity considerations and advance uh and support historically disadvantaged populations? Uh how how well does this corridor sort of uh reflect sustainable growth and kind of managing costs for metro transit on the council? And then
how well does it align with transit supportive land uses? uh each corridor could score 100 total points and each of those four criteria could contribute up to 25 total points of of that of that total out of 100. So each criteria was
weighted equally. You can see those results there. There are really three corridors that sort of stand out among the top tier of those corridor of of the all the corridors we looked at and then they sort of step down from there uh you know in about equal measures. Actually, if you look closely, you can see the
Nicollet Avenue corridor, which is ultimately what we identified as the Kline through the city of Richfield, um is the highest scoring corridor. Uh so this is the corridor that is most promising from our perspective for arterial BRT. Finally, we know the numbers aren't
everything, so those technical evaluation criteria are really important. There's a bit of a sort of um a readiness consideration that we apply in this last prioritization step that helps us identify are these projects ready. We answer three questions attached to each of these projects.
Basically looking at how well they fit within the overall roadway conditions. So arterial BRT needs a certain footprint uh basically behind the curb in order to fit uh and we kind of assess each of the roadways for that. We're also looking at how well does it fit within our overall transit and uh
transit network and our and our other series of metro and our TBRT investments. Basically, you know, is it too close to a particular line? Are we getting some good coverage within our overall transit network? And finally, some of these corridors have pretty significant questions about the overall
alignment and terminal location. And if we have major questions about those, we want to answer those questions before recommending moving forward with those. There's another aspect of this timing. So, we want to align with roadway projects the best we can. Uh to avoid
repeat construction, try to do this all at once when we can uh and avoid delays to implementation, mitigate the impact to the public who are trying to navigate these uh these roadway projects. Applying that fourth step brings us to our recommendations. We are currently
recommending two of those three intended corridors. Uh so the J line uh will be uh ed on on the West 7th Street corridor and the focus of our conversation here tonight, the Metro K line, the Nicollet Avenue corridor. So that uh corridor is
uh connecting into downtown Minneapolis through South Minneapolis uh ending in Bloomington at American Boulevard all via Nicollet Avenue. Um so it'll provide a fast uh uh reliable convenient connection to destinations along that
corridor as well as connections into our broader metro network and our and our broader transit network. Um, we have a few other items we want to study with respect to the broader network before we identify that third candidate corridor, the Line. We'll talk about that another time. We're also
looking at some additional work on this on a Cline extension. So, Nichollet Avenue is recommended as the Kline. Uh, so this is again our top rank corridor. There are really no major outstanding questions for us about this corridor right now. We do want to flag
there's a couple of of kind of more minor questions within the city of Minneapolis, particularly with with respect to the alignment in downtown that we're working with the city of Minneapolis on, but not a reason for us not to advance this corridor. So, our next steps, we're kind of
working through our council process right now. We will be bringing tomorrow night a business item to the Metropolitan Council recommending the Jine and Kine for their adoption. Uh later this spring we will be submitting the Jine the West 7th Street corridor
for the 2026 regional solicitation process. We do this for all of our arterial BRT lines. So Kline will also be submitted to that process at the next round of regional solicitation. And we're then also working to amend the transportation policy plan. So this is
the regional transportation policy guidance uh to include the Jine and Kline. As part of that work, we're seeking resolutions of support from our uh from our municipal partners uh including the city of Richfield, which we're uh uh requesting here today. Um metro kine planning is expected to begin
uh in 2027. And that's the process that we again work very closely with our city, county, and you know, members of the public partners to really identify where should stations be uh with within that broader corridor that we've identified. We anticipate that work beginning next year.
With that, I will stand for any questions. >> Thank you. Are there any questions? >> All right. Seeing none, then I think we could move forward with a motion. >> So, I move to approve a resolution of support for Metro Transit's
recommendation to route the K-ine bus rapid transit line on Nicola Avenue through Richfield. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Go ahead, Council Member Hayer Leri. >> Um, well, first off, I just want to say I'm really excited that this is moving
forward. Um, the Dline has been an excellent improvement on Portland Avenue. We're excited to see another one on Nicollet Avenue. Um, and then just for the benefit of my council colleagues, I'll repeat feedback that I gave at the transportation commission, which is that I just would urge Metro Transit to consider the south terminus of this line as potentially being at the
American Boulevard uh orange line station to allow Richfielders in the Nicola corridor to better access the Orange Line without transferring twice. Um, Uh, with that minor caveat, I think this would be a great improvement to Richfield and I think we're excited to have it. >> Thank you. Other comments or questions?
>> There was one other thing in the staff report. I'm just wondering if our staff could speak to this potential improvements to Nicollet Avenue north of 66 Street that relate to this. Could speak to that? >> Thank you, council member here. Uh, my name is Matt Hardiger. I'm the transportation engineer. Um, as part of
these arterial BRT projects, uh, corridor south of 66 street is being reconstructed starting this upcoming summer. Um there is a gap between highway 62 and 66 street that has not been reconstructed. Um Henipin County
has indicated that this is in their work plan and would coordinate it with the reconstructor with the work for the arterial BRT line. However, it has not been officially confirmed that that would occur yet. It needs to be included in their CIP for that to be an official
project. Okay, thank you for clarifying, but that seems like another potential bonus of this project for Richfield. >> So, this has been built into the Nicollet Avenue reconstruction project for the part that is being reconstructed. >> Uh, Mayor Supple, yes. Uh, the current Nicollet Avenue construction project
that's being led by Henipin County had significant involvement from Metro Transit to make sure that the infrastructure was coordinated so that any improvements on Nicollet Avenue would not preclude BRT improvements in the future. >> All right. Thank you. Um, go ahead. But just to clarify, so the public has a
clear expectation, they will have to come back and and tear up some stuff and put in the platforms and stuff. They're not building that this year. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> But they've left space for it. >> Um >> second. >> Go ahead, Council Member Coleman Woods. >> Well, I think that there was a motion to
approve the >> Oh, and I seconded. Sorry. >> Okay. And so we've seconded. Um, I live close to Portland Avenue, so I see the D um, bus rapid transit, the Dline in action, and it's been I think it's been
working really well. So, I think this will be a good move for Nicollet Avenue as well. Any further discussion? Okay, we have a motion and a second before us. All in favor, please say I. I. >> All opposed. And we've approved um the
resolution. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to item 11 C. Um, Council Member Coleman Woods. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, the [clears throat] item for consideration and approval uh is for a of a resolution authorizing the mayor and city manager to ex execute a memorandum of
understanding with Mindot related to future improvements at the 76th Street and 35W interchange. At the January 13, 2026 regular meeting, the city council disapproved uh municipal consent for the phase two of the 494 corridor vision
project, requesting that MIDI include safety work at 76th Street and 30 the 35W interchange. After review, it was determined MDOT cannot include this work as part of phase 2, primarily due to required environmental documentation and a project approval deadline constraints.
This memorandum of understanding outlines the plan and procedure for the city of m the city and bindata to collaboratively develop and construct improvements at 76 and I 35W interchange. Uh the motion for
um the recommended action is for approve to approve the resolution authorizing the mayor and city manager to execute a memorandum of understanding with mindot related to future improvements at the 76 and I3W interchange any discussion staff
recommendation. >> Did staff want to add something? >> Uh thank you mayor supple. Thank you council member Coleman Woods. Um, as was mentioned in the executive summary. MDOT was not able to or is not able to include this work in phase two of the 494 project staff have worked with MDOT
to develop this memorandum of understanding and feel that it is a good compromise to make sure that the work moves forward in the future. Um, Ryan Wilson from MIDOT is also present tonight if there are any questions for MDOT about the content of this memorandum of understanding. Thank you.
>> Did Mr. Wilson want to add anything or does anybody have any questions? All right. Go ahead, Council Member Burke. >> Um, it' be nice if someone could make it clear to the public the difference between a a memorandum of understanding and a contract, especially in terms of
whether either party can decide not to follow the terms of either theou or the contract. Be nice for the public to make sure that that's made clear to them. Thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Wilson. >> Sure. Uh Ryan Wilson, I'm the west area manager for Mindot Metro District. So
that covers Henipin County. Nice to see you all. Thanks for having us back. Uh council member Burke. Yeah, it's a it's a fair question. So we enter into agreements which have contractual obligations and in fact anou is not contractual. That is in the terms of the agreement itself. It talks about that.
The way I view the usefulness of theou in this case is it lays out expectations for both parties. I think mindat as an agency has a commitment to working with you all on these locations. I view theou as putting us on the record that we like
have a desire to fill that obligation to uh meet with you to talk with you and that is our intent. Um our intent is to see through do this work. Um, you know, our goal is to get a consultant contract underway here summertime sometime, something small, and start looking at it. We've already had a few constructive
conversations with staff and the MOU doesn't get into the mechanics, and I think that's okay. There are potentially some lowerhanging fruits that will come out of this and potentially a few things that might take a bit more effort. And that is the goal of this first phase of the work is to kind of parse that out. and we have different near-term and I
guess I'll say longer term uh ways to deliver projects uh big and small. I appreciate your your words of encouragement and assurances. Um you know reading through theou makes it clear that uh if not decides not to follow through there's no ramifications but it's really good to hear to see you
here and to see you affirm that you have every intention has every intention to follow through with the so that helps a lot. I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Then if you want to go ahead and make the motion. >> And thank you, mayor. Uh, I move to
approve the resolution authorizing the mayor and city manager to execute the memor memorandum of understanding with MDOT related to future improvements at 76 and I35W interchange. >> I'll second that. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion?
I did want to thank staff and Mandot for going through this process and the negotiations because we do hear a lot from residents concerns about safety in that particular area and it was good to see the process work so that we could address some of those issues in the future.
Any other comments or questions? Okay, we have the motion before us. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed. And the motion passes. Thank you. Next, I'll turn over item 11D to Council Member Hay Fertil.
>> Thank you, Mayor. This item is to consider a resolution approving the project layout and providing municipal consent for phase two of the 494 project and repealing resolution number 12397. Mindot has requested the council revisit municipal consent for highway project
494. A resolution of disapproval for this project was passed on January 13, 2026 with a condition to include safety improvements for pedestrians, bicyclists at the 76 Street and 35W interchange. Staff have negotiated the previously considered memorandum of understanding with Mindot to identify and implement
these safety improvements over the next several years. Project two of the 494 corridor vision would construct an easy pass lane on 494 between 35W and 24th Avenue. Reconstruct pavement on I35W between American Boulevard and 75th
Street. Reconstruct the railroad bridge at Pleasant Avenue. Reconstruct 78th Street east of 12th Avenue. Reconstruct the I494 and Highway 77 Cedar Avenue interchange. And perform bridge deck rehabilitation on the
Lindale Avenue bridge over 494. Other work in the project scope but outside of Richfield includes easy pass extension on 494 between West Bush Lake Road and Highway 100 and the reconstruction of the 35W 82nd Street interchange in Bloomington.
Does staff have anything to add prior to a motion? >> Uh just to clarify, thank you council member Herri. The resolution 12397 is the resolution of disapproval that was passed at the January 13th meeting. Other than that, uh, we are happy to
answer any questions and as previously, Ryan Wilson from Mindot is also available to answer questions from. >> All right. Um, I've asked if Council Member Burke could make the motion on this item. >> Yep. So, I'll make the motion to adopt the resolution approving the project
layout and providing municipal consent for project two of the I 484 corridor vision and repealing resolution number 12397. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. We're open for discussion. Is there anything anybody would like to talk about? Council member Burke.
>> Yeah, and again the same concern even more so with this one that this is again a memorandum of understanding and just want the public to be aware of that there. This is not a contract that this is we have a representative from Mindot who's telling us in good faith that they
will follow through with this and this is this is especially an important one for Mindot to follow through and thank you for the assurances. I'm assuming same asurances with this. Um, Council Member Hayford Deliri, >> I just wanted to take a moment to sort of um
express that I'm I'm happy with the compromise that we've reached on this about 76 and 35W, which was our top issue, but to just express disappointment in the project overall, and to say that I really wish that there were a better option on the table for Richfield. Um, we considered approval of
municipal consent for project one west of 35W a couple years ago. And at that time it kind of took issue because one of the things that was presented to us was a presentation saying we can't build our way out of congestion and then encouraging us to vote for this project that would widen and try to build our way out of congestion. And I still feel
that way. I still feel that um this is not an appropriate solution in 2026 to the traffic problems that we have. I think MDOT should have given serious recognition to the possibility of converting existing lanes to easy pass to provide a transit advantage rather than continuing to increase greenhouse
gases and other emissions that harm the world and harm Richfield residents. In Midnight's own analysis, they found that doing this project increases the entire metro's greenhouse gas emissions by 2%. Which that that's a lot of people. That's a lot of area to talk about that level of increase. And it's it's painful
for me to vote yes for this. I I am going to vote yes only because we set a condition and I believe that mindat has fulfilled that condition. Our condition was a concrete improvement at 76 and 35W and um some some you know details that I value
from council member Burke about that not being ironclad I appreciate but I think that that condition has been met and I'm grateful for our staff for advocating for Richfield. But fundamentally, I wish that we had opportunities to build better, safer roads to rehabilitate these roads that are, you know, 60 years
old without expanding. And for almost every community in the state of Minnesota, the only option is expansion or nothing. Um, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, which have more political power than Richfield, they have been willing to study things like I'm describing where we're converting existing lanes to Min Pass. So, we're not expanding, we're
not increasing greenhouse gases, but we are providing those other improvements. We're providing transit and carpool advantage. We're providing better crossings and roadway aesthetics. That wasn't on the table. That wasn't studied for Richfield. Our only choice is accept expansion or get nothing and have a
crumbling highway. Within that context, again, we set a condition. The condition has been fulfilled in my opinion, and I will vote yes. But I hope that this isn't the way we continue to move forward on these projects. and I hope that will offer meaningfully better options especially
in the metro area in the future. >> Thank you. Other comments or questions? >> Uh I'm grateful to everybody that's worked on this prior to our prior to our being us being elected. Um and thank you for your continued work on it.
>> Thank you. Um I too am going to vote yes on this, but I do want to again make a plug for dealing with storm water and I know we don't have a lot of there's not excess capacity built in if climate change hits and we get more um more uh
big rainfalls. We don't have capacity for that. And so I really want to encourage MDOT for down the road when they do projects that are east of here to put in the bigger pipes so that we can take advantage of any storm water capacity we have because I
do worry about the areas in Richville and Bloom that will be affected if we get a lot of excess rain and there's not the storm water capacity for it to go down. So, I just want to put in another plug for storm water. And you know that's not a very exciting thing to talk about, but I think it's really important
and it does affect our neighborhoods. With that, um, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All opposed. And we have passed the resolution. and have passed municipal consent and repealed resolution 12397.
Thank you. Next, we'll move on to item 12A, Council Member Burke. Your mic's not in. Thought I was pretty loud. Uh item for consideration, consider approval of allocation of awards and agreements for services with the recommended nonprofit
organizations and authorize the mayor and city manager to execute agreements for services between the city of Richfield and the nonprofit organizations. In November 2025, staff distributed a request for proposals for social services to nonprofit agencies serving
the city of Richfield for services to be provided in 2026. The 2026 city budget includes funing organizations that provide social services that are deemed to be of public benefit to the city and the community in general. The 2026 budget includes
97,584 for this purpose. A total of seven proposals were received from the following organizations. Reach for resources, VE, Senior Community Services, Loaves and Fishes, Family Partnership, the Cornerstone Group, and
Uable. The proposals represent a wide variety of social services offered to Richville residents. The organizations requested a total amount of 118,396, exceeding the city's available funding by $20,812.
One Richfield resident and three staff members comprised the committee that reviewed the proposals and made funding recommendations. The review committee's recommendations took into account the type of services to be provided, the target to be served and past performance of the social
service agencies. All seven proposals were recommended for funding. The following table details the review committee's recommendations. Reach for resources, formerly known as trail with a 2026 funding request of $5,500.
For 2026, they were awarded $4,000. VEP their request was $30,000. They were awarded $30,000. Senior Community Services request was $10,000 and they were awarded 10,000.
Loe's and Fishes made a request of 10,000. They were awarded $8,500. The Family Partnership was requesting $30,000. They were awarded $12,188.
Cornerstone requested $22,896. and they were awarded $22,896. U requested10,000 and was awarded$10,000. Total funding uh 2026 funding requests made total was
$118,396. Again, the 2026 funding that was awarded total was $97,584. A complete overview of all services to be provided by the various organizations is attached. Staff like to add anything?
>> Yes. Thank you, Council Member Burke. Members of the council, I did want to follow up on the question from uh the open forum and just remind everyone as it said in the staff report, this is a budgeted item. Um it was considered uh last summer, approved preliminarily in
August and then ratified at the end of the year. providing uh funds to social services agencies to partner with Richfield and providing a variety of services for our res residents is something that we've been doing I believe since I have been here which has
been it's been over 20 years um so this is not something new um every year there's a committee that evaluates these proposals um each year the council has um awarded a little bit more money as costs go up for these organizations
that's very helpful Um, but we're grateful to partner with these organizations that can help our residents. Uh, and that's all. Thank you. >> So, I'll make the motion to approve allocation of awards and agreements for services with the recommended nonprofit
organizations and authorize the mayor and city manager to execute agreements for services between the city of Richfield and the nonprofit organizations. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. It's been moved and seconded. discussion.
I did want to thank all of the um service providers, the nonprofits, because they do a lot of valuable work for our community and I know some of them are here in the audience and I just want to thank you all for your service and all the things you've done for our community over the years. And then um I
wanted to clarify the question that came up in open forum was about the towing services and that will be addressed in the city manager report and it's not this particular motion. This is totally separate and it was as um director Palman said this was budgeted in and
went through the whole budget process last year. >> So any other comments or questions? I was just going to actually say the exact same thing that you were going to just because it is a separate uh totally separate issue from uh any effects that
we've had or any fallout that we've had from the metro uh surge ice insurgents. >> All right, any other comments or questions? All right, then we have the motion before us. All in favor, please say I. >> I. All opposed. And we have approved the
allocations and awards. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to item 12B. Council member Hayford. >> Yes. This item is to consider um an appointment to fill a vacancy on the advisory board of health. Uh and this is a commissioner resigned.
There was a vacancy on it and we uh will be appointing a previously decided alternate to the board. Um staff adds that maintaining a full commission roster allows a diverse range of perspectives to be shared during each commission meeting. We we want to fill these seats and we have a procedure now
uh where we decide alternates at the time when we're not able to place everybody right away. Um so in this case I will move that we approve the appointment of Jacob Peterson as advisory board of health commissioner commencing on March 10th 2026 and expiring January 31st 2027.
>> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Thank you, Mr. Peterson, for serving. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> All right. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. All opposed. And we have a new
commissioner to the advisory board of health. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to the city manager report. City manager Rodriguez. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, so the last council meeting, we had seven speakers. There were three people that had requests or
questions that um we haven't addressed before. Um we've had uh multiple requests to do something more for those residents that have been impacted by the by uh heightened immigration enforcement
and that their cars are abandoned and then they get towed. Um some of the requests were that we uh that we relax our towing and um And we are concerned about doing that because we think that'll have unintended consequences and
that is one of the most common complaints that we get from people. Um so we uh clarified with the towing company that the city uses that if people can prove that it the car was towed as a result of immigration
enforcement that it will be the towing charge and then one day of storage which the storage is what really is expensive. Um, also I proposed at that meeting that we could do a contract for $5,000 up to
$10,000 to reimburse Richfield Leadership Network to be able to it would be just like we just did with the uh agreements with the other nonprofits. Uh Richfield Leadership Network is a nonprofit and then they would be able to help people
that have had issues with their cars being impounded because of the immigration um activities that they would fund those. Um the council directed me to prepare an agreement and I've worked with attorney teach and RLN.
They were not able to meet their board was not able to meet to consider it. So I was planning to bring it back at your next council meeting. Um because the funding for the annual program for social service agreements starts in
November of the previous year and as you can see we had more demand for the program and um you just approved the funding for what we had budgeted. It would be a budget amendment but it's a pretty small increase like 5 10%. I'm
not even sure it would put the executive department over budget. normally we can absorb that kind of thing, but there have been other costs associated with the um with the immigration surge. Um so I will still be bringing that to you at
your next meeting um for your consideration. And then um I did I did not recommend that we do further engagement with residents on that issue. Um we did have a different issue that night that was for the emergency um uh
pre-eviction notice to do that on a temporary basis and that in order to consider that for a to change it permanently that we would do more engagement. So I'm wondering if that was what we had talked about um in terms of more resident engagement. And then uh we
also had a request to not do any kind of relief for businesses uh to have a city program. We are continuing to see if we can develop a a local program that would be effective. Uh we're also advocating at the state level to have uh to get
some relief for businesses. There have been businesses that are particularly hard hit and uh as many as 10 had to close. And if we can help those businesses get back on their feet quickly, then that can avoid a negative
uh domino effect. Uh and uh those commercial properties have been down already in the past two years and that pushes the burden of property taxes onto residences. So if you don't have a a
thriving commercial sector in a city, it will eventually impact residential. Um so we're still like again looking at that program and I um I don't have an update on when that would be presented to the EDA. Um and then we had um a
speaker that uh talked about lighting. We had uh speakers tonight that talked about lighting. Council member Hayford Olri had brought me some information about that and his concerns about lighting. We talked about it at the last work session. Um, as people go to LED
lights, they are their um their color is much more uh blue than it is yellow and it is more disruptive to people and wildlife. So, we're looking at that. Also, the brightness we're going to look at. Um, there were some there was a specific address. It's one of our um one
of our public works buildings and we are going to put a guard on that and um and uh council member for Valeri sent some other properties that we're going to look at so that it's not shining out and so that it's more shining down. So we'll look at that. So we're having ongoing conversations. So I thank the residents
for bringing it to us and of course council member Aford earlier. And that's all I have tonight. >> Thank you. So, just to clarify based on the comment we had earlier, um where we're not voting on this till March 24th with the towing. So, if people want to
contact their council members and give input, they can. And there's also open forum. >> Um correct. >> All right. Anything else that anyone wants to add? >> I think that within the um community services commission, we've talked extensively about the improvements at
Veterans Park and the lighting in the parking lot as well. So, some of those uh dollars that are going to be spent on improving the trails and the band shell or that, excuse me, the pavilion and the work that needs to be done on the golf the mini golf
um I call it concession stand. Um is uh some of that is included in the lighting and getting the lighting is included in some of that work that that early. So, more things to come. >> Thank you. Um, any other comments? Thank
you, city manager Rodriguez. Next, we'll move on to the council discussion and if anyone has um any liaison reports or hats off to hometown hits and um we'll start with council member Burke.
>> I should have done this when the proclamation was uh was presented, but the two people who accepted the uh presentation are new members to the Human Rights Commission. So, it was great that they stepped up and were here so early in their term. Uh, I just
wanted to recognize the new members of the Human Rights Commission and again compliment the Human Rights Commission of the good work they do with these proclamations. It's always good to have these reminders of the importance of different groups and uh in our in our city. It's good to get these reminders
of the history behind it. So, again, thanks to the Human Rights Commission. >> All right. Um, Council Member Coleman Woods. Thank you, mayor. Um, I am grateful to be uh one of our well the only black council member and one of the
other women in our city council. So, I'm grateful for the proclamations that our city has made and committed to um the continued success of our of our uh what do I want to call it? The the most dedicated type of people that are
that are able to participate in our city government. And um I also am uh excited because our Richfield basketball team is making a run for state. The game is on Thursday at 7 o'clock. And let's go
Spartans. >> Thank you. Council member Hay Ferri. >> Um just wanted to thank residents of Village Shores. I filled in for the mayor last week to talk with them, although I think she'll be back soon. But the residents of Village Shores um had us there uh to just talk about some updates on city issues and they are very
engaged in the city. They walk around. They have a lot of opinions on the downtown branding project and lots of other important issues including Richfield Lake and Woodlike. And then also want to thank um staff and the project team for hosting this great uh ceremony at the new Woodlake Nature
Center as they raise the final laminated beam up into the structure of the roof. Um, so it was pretty cool to be on site and see the updates on that project. It's going to be a really cool building and it was great to see it in progress and I'm just excited to see it coming along. >> Thank you. I want to do a hats off to
the city staff that just launched their new the new website. So, if you haven't checked it out, we have a new website and I'm still kind of working my way through it, but I think it's a big improvement over the old one. So, thank you to everybody who worked on that. Um, also I was at the regional council of
mayors and they were giving a legislative update and one of the things they called out was that the um, Department of Transportation at the state level has changed the cost participation policies and they did a shout out to Richfield for helping to
push that forward and advocate for that. So, um, I believe she's no longer here, but I wanted to give a hats off to um, Director Asher for all her work in that project. Um, we've been over at the capitol a lot with the coalition. I had another appointment today and we've been
various cities have been testifying and talking making sure that people are focused on the impact on cities from operation metro surge and looking at things from municipal standpoint of how it affects cities and the residents that are there. And finally, my last shout
out is to the Girl Scouts. Um, I had visited with some of the Girl Scouts that were kindergarten and first graders a couple weeks ago and we have a new set of Girl Scouts that are going to be coming to Tour City Hall in April. And then um I believe it's this weekend I'm
going to be over at the Capitol because it's Girl Scout Day at the Capitol on Saturday. So there's all things going on with the Girl Scouts and everybody's been really active and so my hats off is to the Girl Scouts. >> I've asked them to stay away from our house. I'm just
I'm down like 20. >> Oh, yeah. We we have a lot of cookies at our house, too. So, >> Oh my gosh. >> All right. With that, it would be in order to have a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> I do have one more thing. Go ahead. >> Um, and shout out to Gideon Horn for
smashing and shattering the backboard at the Richfield High School first section game. I've never seen any high school kid ever do that. And we made the news. We're very, it was very viral in all of the sports socials. So, um, yeah, it did require a replacement though.
>> Oh, wow. Was that like a like a slam dunk or something? >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> Oh, wow. >> Pretty. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. He shattered it completely. >> We have to go back and look at it online. >> Yes, it is available online. No one saw it. >> I shared it on my Facebook if anybody
needs to see it again. I shared it multiple times. I've probably watched it 60 times by myself. But um we hope not to have to replace another one this season and they did they were able to swap it quite quickly with the replacement. So
>> wow. I'll have to check that out. >> Yeah. >> All right. Is there a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> I'll move. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting. All in favor please say I. >> I. >> All opposed. We stand adjourned. Thank you.