And Paul City Council to order. Roll call, please. Jalali. Johnson. Here. Jost. Here. Kim. Here. Yang. Here. Buoy. Here. Council President Naker. Here. Six present, one absent being council member Jalali, who is excused. Welcome everyone to our city council meeting. So glad that you could join us here today. Everyone is invited to stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Consent agenda items two through eight are before you for your consideration. Is there anything to be pulled from consent? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from miss Johnson to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor. No one opposed. The consent agenda is adopted. And we're skipping ahead to item 10, is that correct? Let's skip to item 10. Item 10 is resolution 20 five-three 41, approving the appointment of Beef Tu Adema Dula as the legislative aide in Ward 1. Council Member Bui.
So thank you so much, counsel. I would like to bring, my legislative assistant or legislative aide, Bif Tu, and her family to join as well. I know Sherry's gonna be there to deliver the oath, but I'll have, Biftu, deliver the oath, and then I'll give a few remarks after. Okay? You need to call a person. Oh, we should we vote? Oh, oh, then we should vote. We should run a vote then. Take that take that as a motion from the city. Any discussion? Is this gonna be Seeing none, all in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Six in favor.
Now it's opposed. The resolution is adopted. Okay. That makes more sense. I don't know how to do it. We wanna make sure the camera can get Oh, okay. I'm just gonna open it. The dead. Right here. It's facing this way. So face there there you go. There you go. Yep. Perfect. Let me raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state your name. I, beef to Adema Julep. Do you solemnly swear Do you solemnly swear to support the constitutions To support the constitutions of The United States Of The United States and of the state of Minnesota. And of the state of Minnesota. And to discharge faithfully.
And to discharge faithfully. The duties devolving upon me. The duties devolving upon me. As the ward one legislative aide. As the ward one legislative aide. Of the city of Saint Paul. Paul of the city of Saint Paul to the best of my judgment and ability To the best of my judgment and ability. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Miss Buie, did you wanna make any comments? Thank you. Figure out the order of this. I, I wanted the, official business to take place. But, I, just wanna just, say share my appreciation, for Beef to, stepping into this role, boots on the ground.
She actually, was hired right when we were in the thick of administrative citations. Very high stakes, big vote, and she, was not afraid of a challenge, not afraid of just working hard. And I just wanna say thank you to, your family for also showing up and having great pride in who you are and your leadership. You have such a deep, beautiful, rich spirit for human rights and for people, and you care very deeply. And, Biftooth is also a Frog Towner. So she grew up in Frog Town and,
is a Saint Paul girl and has, has invested a lot of compassion, and thought in terms of how we are advancing policy and, really working hard on behalf of the people in Saint Paul. So thank you again, beef two. Item 11 is resolution 25 dash three forty two, approving the appointment of Megan Jekett as the legislative aide in Ward 2. Invite Megan Jekett and family and friends to come on up. Do you wanna make the motion for adoption? Yes. I would move approval of the motion appointing Megan Jackett as my legislative aide.
Is there any discussion of that motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. The resolution is adopted. You raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Megan Jekett, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear to support the constitutions to support the constitutions of The United States Of The United States and of the State of Minnesota and of the State Minnesota and to discharge faithfully and to discharge faithfully the duties devolving upon me the duties devolving upon me as the war two legislative aide as the war
two legislative aide of the city of Saint Paul of the city of Saint Paul To the best of my judgment and ability. To the best of my judgment and ability. Congratulations. Woo. Okay. Item number 12 is resolution 20 five-three 43. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. She was on the road. It was a travel time. I just want to say, there's a lot that I could say about Meghan jacket, but I think that I will just keep it to that her first day on the job was February 10, and she emailed me the week before to ask if it would be alright if she came in, a week early because she wanted to make sure that she had fully moved in
and was ready to start before she actually started. And I said, I don't think there's gonna be any concern with you starting work before your first day of work. And that getting ready included cleaning both the walls and the baseboards of her office which I don't think has ever happened in a room in this entire building. So it is the best organized and already best operational room, I think in the entire City Hall. And I feel like my capacity in the Ward 2 office to serve our constituents has just been quadrupled with your addition jacket.
So, so excited to have you on board. Item 12 is Resolution 20 five-three 43, approving the appointment of Jenny Nelson as the Interim Legislative Aide in Ward 4. Take a motion from Ms. Jones for approval. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed, the resolution is adopted. You raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Jenny Nelson, do solemnly swear Do solemnly swear. To support the constitutions. To support the constitutions. Of The United States. Of The United States.
And of the state of Minnesota. And of the state of Minnesota. And to discharge faithfully. And to discharge faithfully. The duties devolving upon me. The duties devolving upon me. As the Ward 4 Interim Legislative Aide as the Ward 4 Interim Legislative Aide of the City Of Saint Paul of the City Of Saint Paul to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and ability. And, Jenny, I also have the honor of getting to just say a couple words about you. I know we haven't known each other for very long and haven't worked together directly, but I just can't say what a pleasure it is to have you in the office as a colleague.
You are, always, smiling somehow despite the work that we do, always, handling every situation that comes your way with grace under fire and, you've just shown yourself to be the consummate professional and flexible in every situation and completely committed to providing good service to the residents of Ward 4 which, we need and I know they appreciate now more than ever in this time of transition. So thank you so much. Thank you. Can I give a quick little remark? Oh, miss Bowie. Thank you. Thank you, council president. I also wanna just give quick remarks, to Ginny. She is, represents Ward 4.
And I know when she stepped into this role, being neighbors, our neighboring wards, she really stepped in and shine. She brought so much positivity and supported, the coordination, particularly with the United Village, and a lot of her expertise and her inspiration and just, like, how she's, able to collaborate. And I'm just happy to have her here. And thank you again, Ginny, for all the service that you provide. Item nine is resolution 20 five-three 51, proclaiming 02/26/2025 as Mike Smith Day in the City of Saint Paul.
And I believe there is a version two, not to dampen the enthusiasm to get to the next part. Is the Scribner's error? Is the Scribner's error? That miss Kim would move version two? They were actually Scribner's errors. Okay. Sorry. So we don't Yeah. No version two. Okay. There's a version It's governor Sayers. Miss Kim. Hello. Well, we have quite an attendance. I would let you all decide if you'd like to come up, to, help Mike receive the award. I think you should If you'd all like to join us, please come on up. You're already standing. And then, Abdi Hamid, if you don't mind coming up and just taking some photos from the diocese.
Great. It is my distinguished honor to read this out loud into the record, one of the things that I usually find very annoying, but not without pomp and circumstance. The man of the hour is here. And I won't be the ones, person speaking, but I'm just gonna read this out loud so everyone can hear what an illustrious career, Mike has had. So please step step forward. You're the honored honored recipient. Okay. So proclaiming 02/26/2025 is Mike Smith Day in the city of Saint Paul. Whereas Mike Smith was appointed to the fire department on 03/02/1998,
he was the he was first elected to AIFF Local twenty one executive board in February and promoted to promoted to fire captain on 12/09/2006. And whereas Mike was elected as IAFF local twenty one president in 02/2009, went on to be reelected six consecutive times and was president for fifteen years, which is the longest tenure in the hundred and seven year history of Local twenty one. And whereas during his twenty seven years of service, Mike served as a firefighter in engine seven, and then on squad one after being promoted to captain,
Mike was captain of ladder eight, and then was captain of rescue squad one for twelve years. Whereas during Mike's tenure as president, he was presided over a 34% increase to base firefighter wages. During his presidency, IFF Local twenty one has expanded by over 60 new members, the largest expansion of the local in over a hundred years. Mike was a recipient of the prestigious local leadership award from the twenty twenty four IAFF biennial convention. And whereas Mike has been instrumental in gaining state line of duty death benefits for
the family of fallen Saint Saint Paul Fire Captain, Mike Pater, the very first line of duty death from occupational cancer recognized by the state of Minnesota. And Mike did not stop there and appealed to the federal government for the Pater family to receive similar benefits at the federal level, resulting in the honoring our fallen heroes act being introduced in the US House and Senate. Whereas Mike has served as a mentor and friend to countless firefighters throughout their career, both from a professional as well as as labor perspective, his steady and strong leadership will be dearly missed.
And whereas Mike married his best friend Janet on 05/06/1995, I'm such a romantic, and they have four wonderful children, Noah, Jack, Sean, and Olivia. And whereas Mike's retirement is entirely well deserved, which is proof that his leadership both on the fireground and at the Union Hall will be dearly missed and difficult to replace. As a mentor as much a mentor as a leader, Mike helped to develop the future firefighters and union leaders, ensuring that both the fire department and its union will be in good hands for years to come.
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Saint Paul City Council proclaims 02/26/2025 as Mike Smith Day in the city of Saint Paul. Congratulations. I think before we put Mike on the spot, the best thing is to have other folks come and say wonderful things about him. So I'd actually like to invite the chief if you'd like to say a few words. And, I don't know if anyone else would like to speak. We'll take just maybe a couple speakers, but we'll invite them. Thank you. Thank you. The chief of hello. Yes. Thank you, city council. I appreciate you, allowing me to speak.
Congratulations to Mike. Before I get started, I I'm gonna ask everybody here to, plug in today's date and continue to text Mike annually before, Mike Smith day so we don't forget about it. The the declaration says almost everything about Mike. Right? It's almost twenty five years of union leadership. Many of that about half of that was was when I was a firefighter or captain when he was my union leader. And then the other half was me as an administrator and us, I would like to say working together on the progress we've made in this department.
We didn't we didn't always agree on everything, but we always agreed and committed to staying at the table. Sometimes we had to take a couple weeks off to come back to the table, but we always came back to the table, and we always came up with solutions. Union side of Mike. But I want everyone to know, like, Mike is, like, one of the best firefighters this department's ever seen. In a hundred and fifty years of existence, when Mike shows up, would show up to a fire, the fire is gonna be put out. He's going to go in. He's going to sacrifice himself. He's gonna he's gonna put, he's gonna put his own needs aside to help the residents of this city.
And I and I go back to to, May of twenty twenty, if we remember the civil unrest and and what what, what people tried to do to our city. I left that day and three days later, I came back. But what I remember the most about that day was was a a fire in a liquor store that, it was it was a really good fire. For firefighters, I'll just tell you it was rolling. It was going good. Okay? And and I was in the EOC along with other leaders of the city, and and some people thought that business was gonna be gone and burned down. And I remember asking the question,
who who's what crew is in there? And they told me Mike Smith's in there. I said, no. Fire's gonna be put out. I'm telling you right now. The fire will be put out. And about thirty seconds, the color of that smoke's gonna change. And in our world, when it goes to very dark thick thick columns of smoke to to a lighter smoke and less less volatile, the the fire's been put out. And it wasn't but thirty seconds later when that when that changed from us being on the outside, and that store still stands today. And it's because Mike is not just a union leader,
and I want everyone to remember that. He's one of the best firefighters we've ever had. So, Mike, I congratulate you for all your accomplishments. Council president Naker, members of the council, I'm truly honored. Not very often am I speechless. You can ask these individuals here. I always have words. I always have things to say. I mean, this was a dream job. And to work for the city, the best department, I'm truly honored. And, you know, I I look where we sit today, fire chief banks, city council, mayor, mayor's office. You know, when we all come together,
we advance this department, not only be the best, and we stand out from every other department out there. And bringing back station or Building Station 7, bringing back Engine 7, something I never thought I would see in my career, which brings promoted spots, adding firefighters, rebuilding of Station 1. I I meant there's great things happening in this city with, you know, with your leadership as city council, and it was truly an honor to work with every one of you.
Fifteen years as president, I I just can't believe it, and it's been a journey, and time flies. So with that, I I just wanna say thanks, and I will miss every one of you. With that, I move approval of the resolution. There's been a motion for approval. Is there any discussion of that motion? Ms. Yang? Thanks, council president. Well, I have so much I wanna say about Mike. First, it is such a bittersweet day. I but I know that it's not goodbye. It's a see you again. And, Mike, I wanna say thank you so much for your leadership.
Every single space that I shared with you, I could always tell that everything you did, it came from your heart. You really modeled for me what passion was like and what it looks like and what it really means to care for for other people from truly from the bottom of your heart. And, you really have so much love for everybody, all the people around you, for entire community, for all the leaders that you've worked with. And so I just wanna say thank you. We're going to miss you so much in the city of Saint Paul. And I hope that when you look at all of us, it's a reminder about all the amazing ways that you have impacted our lives over
the years that we've known you. And so if you ever forget that, just think of all the people, you know, who you are surrounded with and let them be your reminder about your greatness in the world and what you have brought to our communities. So thank you for everything. Thanks, miss Yang. Any other discussion of the motion, miss Bully? Thank you, council president. I just wanna say thank you, council member Kim, for bringing this resolution forward. And thank you, Mike, for your leadership, your courage. I really, really enjoyed when we came there for our training camp day, and, we really put our skills to the test.
And I have so much respect, for the service of our firefighters, and you have demonstrated that. And like council, member Yang had said with this bittersweet day, I hope that you know that you are an inspiration to this generation and the next generation of firefighters as we think about, what this profession means, for many people who hold, not only the badge or wear the uniform, but also demonstrate the character of what a firefighter does and what it means to the community. So again, thank you for your service.
I'm glad we had a chance to, connect, and I had a chance to learn a day in the life, of, of those who are trained to become firefighters. And so much respect, to you and your colleagues. Thanks, miss Buie. Any other discussion? Miss Johnson? I'll be short. I'll just simply say thank you, Mike, for, both your service, but also you can tell really I always like to say, like, for me, and it's something that my dad and I used to talk about a lot from a man that is that takes pride in the work that they do. Never once, has to reiterate that pride because it shows in in the way that they walk
and the way that they talk and in the way the community continues to show up for them. And you, sir, are a person that folks will continue to read about, now and also in the work that you do. And I look forward to being able to share that legacy with my kids and the future generation of folks of what a decent and hardworking Saint Paul, Minnesota Firefighter looks like. So thank you, sir, for your leadership and for your work. And most importantly, to the entire department that's here today, I think it's it speaks volumes for how you consistently continue to show up,
for your community as well as for one another. So just genuinely really, really excited to see you honored in this way. It's just a bucket in what's to come for sure, because your legacy will outdo the writing on any paper or on the resolution. But for sure, it's the pride that our community has in you and your service that was earned, sir. Not given, but earned. So thank you so much for your work. Any further discussion? Just Thank you, council president. I also wanna thank the council vice president for organizing this and everyone for being
here. And Mike, I, you know, I'm a new council member only been here for a year now, but, it feels like this was a really big year for our partnership, with, with you and, with the department, we participated in the fire ops, which I'm not sure that entire city council has shown up to do that before. And, the day that you organized was extremely impactful, to all of us. And it it, you know, it's a day that I'll certainly certainly never forget. And I just really, appreciate your passion and how much you care about everyone in our city and everyone
around you. And that can be seen by, you know, everyone that's here today. And as well as at the, installment event, I think a few weeks ago, we also were able to celebrate you there as well. And there's so much more about you from your colleagues. So thank you. Thank you so much. And I'm just really looking forward to continuing the work that you started. Well, I wanna thank all of my colleagues for your beautiful and powerful comments. I wanna thank council vice president Kim for your leadership in bringing this initiative forward. As miss Jo said, you're always looking for ways to shine a light on other people. And that's something I really value and appreciate about you.
And, when you came and said February 26 should be Mike Smith Day in the city of Saint Paul. I was like heck yeah. So I'm so glad that you did that. And Mike, I have very little to add to what my colleagues have already said. I will just say that, while I heard you speaking today, and thank you, by the way, for showing the emotion that you feel. I don't think we do that often enough, and I really wanna admire your strength in doing that. I was just thinking about a line of of saying in my Jewish faith that that, says in a place where there are no human beings, be a human being. And I think that the scenarios that you find yourself in both physically on a
daily basis and also the political situations that you find yourself in, the political environment we all find ourselves in right now makes it really easy to lose that humanity. And, you have never lost that humanity by, as is evident in the way that you spoke today and in all the the humans around you today and the humanity that you inspire in others. So, you will be so deeply missed, and we're so grateful to you. Thank you. And with that, I think a vote is in order. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor. No one opposed. The resolution is adopted. You are all welcome to stay,
but we are gonna make a hard pivot, as the council vice president I'll take a motion from miss Yang to suspend the rules. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Rules are suspended. Resolution 25 dash three sixty five, appointing the public rights project as special counsel for the purpose of providing legal representation to the city of Saint Paul in the matter of city and county of San Francisco, County of Santa Clara, city of Portland, Martin Luther King Junior County, City Of New Haven, City Of Saint Paul versus Donald Day Trump,
President of The United States, et al. Great. So, this item is before us under suspension. Recognize that we have a special guest who just joined us and just left. I didn't know if you wanted to say any words about either the previous item or about this item that is in front of us right now under suspension, but he does not. Okay. Great. Thank you for being here. So this is an item that, officially, joins the city of Saint Paul to litigation, that is being initiated by the city of San Francisco in conjunction with these other cities to defend, our city separation ordinance. We spoke about this at a press conference earlier,
but I would welcome any comments from my colleagues, before we before we vote. Miss Joest. Sure. Thank you, thank you, council president, and thank you to you and our council and everyone that organized the press conference that was before this where there was a lot more information, about this item. I am really, I, you know, of course, will be supporting this today, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to, to join to join this, this legal matter with with, with San Francisco and everyone else listed here. I just wanna share a little bit more about this, from from my perspective.
Over twenty years ago in 02/2004, former Ward three council member, Pat Harris, sponsored an ordinance that was called employee authority in immigration matters. And to summarize, what we talked about in this press conference, but essentially, this this ordinance states that, you know, our city departments and our police departments do not operate to carry out the work or actions of ICE agents or to enforce federal immigration laws. And at the time, council former council member Harris brought this forward because he'd heard about people,
that were not contacting the police when they were victims of domestic abuse, for example, or other crimes because they worried about being deported. This is just this is just one example, but that was one of the reasons this was brought forward and just felt, you know, very common sense to the former council member, at that time. And, additionally, this was passed by the entire city council. I don't I think my understanding is no one showed up to the public hearing to speak against it. And, additionally, noted George w Bush supporter and former mayor,
Randy Kelly, also passed this item after the council voted on it. So across party lines, what this demonstrated is that our city values upholding the safety and the well-being of all of our residents. And additionally, keeping city employees focused on city work does not preclude the city of Saint Paul from over $200,000,000 of federal funding that our residents deserve. Thanks, miss Joest. Really well said. Any other, comments on this item in front of us? Miss Johnson? I appreciate, springing forward this item on such a really important time and topic,
I think, going on, locally. And one of the things I would say in simplistic forms, right, federal federal agencies, do federal work and they have federal responsibilities. Local government and local government employees have a obligation to fulfill the local work and the work with the real people. And at times, that includes stepping in and ensuring that community members, regardless of the immigration status, but just truly every neighbor, wherever they live, no matter what their ZIP code is, has access to resources that they otherwise would not have. And I think one of the things that is really important to me is we
are just acting merely to continue to uphold something that's been in place for over twenty years. And I'm proud to be in a city and to be a city council member in Ward 7 in an area where we're saying we stand with our neighbors. We want our community members to be able to access local work, and we wanna ensure that our local employees and our local government works and and prioritizes what our local responsibility is to do, which is to protect our citizens and our community members regardless of their immigration status. So I'm just genuinely supportive of this,
really excited that we're joining other municipalities and other counties across the nation that are having this topic. Because for me, it's really important that we are stepping up and making sure that we aren't just letting go of $200,000,000 in federal funding, but we're not, trading our our soul and exchange for it either. So genuinely appreciate it. Thank you, council president, for bringing it up. Thanks, miss Johnson. Miss Bowie. Yes. Thank you, council president. Also, I just wanna say I appreciate the staff, the, elected officials, the mayor, our office,
and our, our colleagues or my colleagues, particularly around bringing this. It is a very urgent matter, and every single day, and our roles, you know, I know I am always asked about how is the council, how is the city going to be in response to this. A lot of community members are afraid, and living in a complete sense of uncertainty of not where we stand, but how we're gonna act and how we should respond. So I see this as an action to actually demonstrate that we protect, the rights of our residents to have access to our public spaces.
Every month and every week, we hear the the mission, that we all hope to serve and continue serving is keeping our spaces welcome for everyone. So I think this is a way for us to use our, legal, authority and support, to advance those those values that we demonstrate. I am in support of this item. I definitely, look to, the cities across the country and ourselves on how we're gonna continue holding that mantle of justice and making sure that everyone has a voice.
And like what was mentioned, today in the press conference that, you know, our neighbors should never be in fear to call 911 if their neighbors, are if their safety is jeopardized. So I think that is something, I'm happy we're we're doing this in this action. I'm also happy that you brought up the ordinance, in ensuring that we have legislation that's upholding that value as well. Thanks, miss Billie. Miss Kim. Hi. Thank you, council president. Yeah. I'm super supportive of this, suspension item. The president and the executive branch,
they do not determine the values of our city. City. Trump and Musk would have us believe that anyone born in another country like myself and council member, Jost, or who speaks a different language other than them is a less than human threat. Their propaganda would have us believe that providing basic resources and information to our community puts us in danger. So let me be very clear like my colleagues, providing education to our people makes us all safer. Providing legal resources to our community members makes us all safer.
Providing safety at our places of worship makes us all safer. And providing health care to our people makes us all safer. Our community is one that strives to protect and will continue to include those of us who are immigrants, refugees, trans and or non non binary, our queer community, and our folks from a multitude of racial and cultural backgrounds. We, the people of Saint Paul, are deserving of the basic human rights provided to us by The US constitution and just common decency. We will not be giving up on our people to please white supremacists,
imperialists, or false kings. And as one of the few politicians in Saint Paul so far that has been named by the Trump administration, We are very honored to be named as award office that protects, like all of our offices, that protects and will fight for immigrant community. Thanks, vice president. Any other, comments on this item? Alright, seeing none, I will take a motion from Vice President Kim for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. The resolution is adopted.
I will move, suspension of the rules. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. The rules are suspended. So this is an item that we heard last week. The public hearings on this appeal were conducted and then closed, and the council discussed the appeals. Subsequently, there was a motion to grant the appeals, but this motion failed on a three to three vote, tie vote. And because of that failed motion, there is no final action, which is why I am bringing this back for, I'm going to move reconsideration of this item today. My intention is to then also move a one week layover of this item for
discussion next week. And the item is ABZA 20 five-one. Would you like me to read the item? Yes, I would. ABZA 20 five-one, considering the appeal of Sean Ryan, Ryan Companies, U. S. Inc. To decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals denying four variance requests to construct a mixed use development on the property at 2200 Ford Parkway. So I will move a reconsideration of this item. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. ABZA 20 five-one is reconsidered.
I will take a motion from miss Buie to suspend the rules again. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, not opposed. The rule 14 e is suspended. And I will move to lay over APZA 25 dash one till next week, March fifth. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no and opposed. The item is laid over to March 5. I will move suspension of the rules. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no and opposed. The rules are suspended.
And for the same reasons as listed previously, I will have Ms. Moore read the item. ABCA 20 five-two, considering the appeal of Sean Ryan, Ryan Companies, US Inc. To decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals, denying two variance requests to construct a commercial building on the property at 0 Cretan Avenue South. I will move to reconsider this item. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no and opposed. The item has been reconsidered under suspension rule 14 e. I will move to suspend the rules again. All in favor,
say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no and opposed. The rule 16 e, to suspend is approved. I will move a one week layover of ABCA 20 five-two to March 5. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed. Six in favor, no one opposed. The item is laid over to March 5. Item 13 is final adoption of ordinance 20 five-four, amending title four of the Administrative code to add chapter 92 title tree preservation for city sponsored projects. Thank you to my colleagues for being willing to entertain a two month layover of
this item. Because of your giving me that time, I was able to have a really productive conversation with a number of community members who are really interested in the subject. I knew when I introduced it and I know we talked about this, that trees are, of interest and are, a passion for so many of us at this table and so many of us in our community. And we had a really good conversation. And one of the things that came out of that conversation was a desire for more time, for more of more advice from the community and also to adopt the rules at the same time as the ordinance. Previously, we were talking about adopting the ordinance first, then having staff go back and work on the rules.
But community made, a very strong argument that the ordinance really can't take effect until the rules are adopted anyway. So it makes sense to do both at once. So what I would like to do is, take the next six months to to work together. This is the amount of time that public works and parks have said would be enough time, to both amend the ordinance, get it into final form, and also prom promulgate the rules for the ordinance and to do that, in partnership with community members, and getting additional input. So, I would move a six month layover of this item till August 27. Yes. And I welcome discussion on that motion.
Seeing none, thank you. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. The ordinance is laid over to August 27. Item 14 is first reading of ordinance 20 five-six, amending Chapter 85 of the Legislative Code regarding water rates. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. And just a quick note on all of these items, normally we do have a staff report on the first reading, but because of some constraints, we're going to have a staff report at our second reading public hearing next week. Item 15 is first reading of Ordinance 20 five-seven amending chapter 87 of the legislative
code pertaining to water service connections. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. Item 16 is first reading of Ordinance 20 five-eight, amending Chapter 88 of the legislative code pertaining to water meters. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. Item 17 is first reading of Ordinance 20 five-nine, amending Chapter 89 of the legislative code pertaining to fire supplies. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. Item 18 is first reading of Ordinance 20 five-ten, amending chapter 90 of the legislative code pertaining to fire hydrants.
The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for public hearing for second reading public hearing. Item 19 is first reading of ordinance 20 five-eleven, amending chapter 91 of the legislative code pertaining to water code miscellaneous provisions. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. Item 20 is ordinance 20 five-twelve amending chapter 92 of the legislative code pertaining to plumbing. The ordinance is laid over to plumbing. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. Item 21 is first reading of ordinance 20 five-thirteen amending chapter 93 of the legislative
code pertaining to water service connections. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. Item 22 is first reading of Ordinance 20 five-fourteen, amending Chapter 94 of the legislative code pertaining to interior work. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. Item 23 is first reading of ordinance 20 five-fifteen, amending chapter 96 of the legislative code pertaining to connection of air conditioning equipment to city water. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. Item 24 is first reading of ordinance 20 five-sixteen amending chapter 97 of the legislative
code pertaining to well drillers. The ordinance is laid over to March 5 for second reading public hearing. That is gonna be a great set series of public hearings. We're gonna get a lot of information about water work. Item 25 is a public hearing of ordinance 25 dash five, granting the application of E. Small Associates and Wengler Family Limited Partnership to rezone the properties at 841 And 857 Grand Avenue from BC Community Business and B2 Community Business to T3 Traditional Neighborhood and
amending Chapter 60 of the legislative code pertaining to the zoning map. Great. So we have reached the public hearing portion of our agenda. So if you are here to testify on any public hearing item, you'll just wait until your item is called. If you have any, concern about that or if you're not sure where we are in the agenda, you can ask any member of our staff for help. When you do come up to testify, you'll have two minutes to testify. We ask that you start by saying your name and where you're coming from. And then when you're done with your testimony, you can sign in at either of the two sign in sheets, to the side of the microphones, and the microphones do not need to be adjusted.
They will pick you up just fine wherever, you land relative to them. So with that, we will welcome anyone here to testify on ordinance 25 dash five. Come on up. Seeing none, I will move to close the public hearing and lay the matter over for final adoption on March 5. Any discussion of that motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the ordinance is laid over to March 5 for final adoption. Item 26 is Resolution Public Hearing twenty five-twenty one amending the financing and spending plans
of the Department of Public Works Capital Budget for the six Kennard and Westside Pedestrian Proven Projects. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Jost to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 27 is resolution public hearing twenty five-twenty two amending the financing and spending plans in Department of Public Works Capital Budget for the 2025 lighting improvements program and the
2021 Wabasha signal project. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Johnson to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, none opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 28 is Resolution Public Hearing 20 five-twenty three, authorizing the Department of Parks and Recreation to accept Parks and Trails legacy funds, enter into grant agreements and amend the financing and spending plan in the amount of $3,151,341
This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Yang to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no and opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Item 29 is resolution Public Hearing 20 five-twenty nine, accepting grant funds authorizing execution of a grant agreement and amending the operating budget for the City's sponsorship of a Metropolitan Council Livable Communities Demonstration Account Transit Oriented Development Grant for the Hams Brewery redevelopment at 6 Eighty-six 94 Minnehaha Avenue East.
We have our winner of the longest title of an item today. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak on this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Ms. Johnson to close the public hearing. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Just one moment, sorry. Ms. Johnson. Thank you so much. I just wanted to pull this quickly before we move on to our next item. I think that this is a really important time to talk about the Hansberry redevelopment that is here. Something that I think is just really important to note here,
this grant was awarded for the site because of its transit oriented development of the site. And I think one of the things that is really exciting about the Easton development specifically is the future of our city continuing to be affordable housing and not parking lots. And one of the things I think that's super important for us as we continue to look into the space and even just seeing as we're able to get awarded more, resources for this project, this is primarily only awarded in situations where there is, mixed use development that is near high frequency transit routes.
And I think that this is a really great and beautiful way to advance equity in our city, continue to support regional economic competitiveness by leveraging this private investment dollars going into our resources here and also just most importantly, being able to ensure that we have a continued step towards making sure that more folks are taking transit and utilizing the public accessibility that they have to get to our sites. So genuinely appreciate it. Thank you for letting me take a few minutes to acknowledge that we did receive, this funding for this purpose.
Thanks, miss Johnson. Any further discussion? Take that as motion from miss Johnson to approve. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? It's just the public hearing was put to before so I didn't. Oh, I'm sorry. Six in favor, no one opposed. The resolution is adopted. Item 30 is resolution public hearing 20 five-thirty two, amending the financing and spending plans in the general government accounts in the amount of $34,294.99 for inflation reduction act tax credit services. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from miss Buie to close the public hearing and approve.
All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted. Legislative hearing consent agenda items 31 through 55 are before you for your consideration. Welcome, Ms. Mormon. Thank you, council president. There are two items that I'm aware that need to be read separately. Those would be numbers fifty four and fifty five. Item 54 is RLH AR 20 four-ninety eight, ratifying the assessment for rubbish and garbage cleanup services during June 2024.
Miss Mormon. I'm asking that the city council remove 776 DeSoto Street off the assessment rule and refer to legislative hearing lunch work. I will make that motion. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? We need to call the public hearing. Right. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to speak on this item? Seeing none, I will move to close the public hearing and approve. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor. No one opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted as amended. Item 55 is RLH AR 20 four-ninety nine,
ratifying the assessment for tall grass and weed removal services during July 1 to the twenty second, twenty twenty four. Ms. Mormont. In this case, I would ask that you remove items or excuse me, seven fourteen Lafond from the assessment rule and we'll be preparing a resolution to come back to to delete the assessment I was able to review. Thank you, Ms. Mormon. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone here to testify on this item? Seeing none, I'll take a motion from Vice President Kim to close the public hearing and approve legislative hearing officers recommendation. All in favor say aye.
Aye. All opposed? Six in favor, no none opposed. The public hearing is closed and the resolution is adopted as amended. Any other items, Ms. Mormont? I'm not aware of anyone else to testify on a hearing item. Alright, we will hold a public hearing on the balance of the legislative hearing agenda items. This is the first time I've remembered to do that. I just thought I would toot my own horn there for a second. Anyone here to testify on any of these items, this is your chance. Alright. Seeing none, I'll take a motion from, Ms. Jones to close the public hearings and approve the items as they are in front of us. All in favor,
say aye. Aye. All opposed? Six in favor. No one opposed. The public hearings are closed and the consent agenda is adopted as amended. That brings us to the end of our agenda. Is there any good news from around the wards? Ms. Yang? Thanks, Council President. I just wanted to share again, an event that I am hosting tomorrow with Commissioner Maichang Zhong along with our housing developers at the Heights. We're doing a business networking event where folks can connect with the Heights housing developers and construction partners regarding employment and subcontract subcontracting opportunities.
It will be from noon to 1PM at the Arlington Hills Community Center. Thanks so much for being. Any other good news from the words Vice President Kim? Mine's a little more informational and I'm gonna say this more explicitly because I kind of loved it but, the administration, the presidential administration named three Minnesotan politicians. One of them was my office and part of it would had to do with the fact that we shared really pertinent information around immigrant and refugee resources. So I'd like to lift those up again. The City of Saint Paul has immigration related resources for community members through our attorney's
office, our immigrant and refugee program. The immigrant and refugee program can connect constituents with resources for shelter, food, becoming a citizen and more. I don't need to say more about our separation ordinance. We are very clear on where we stand on that. A friendly reminder to reach out to your congressional office, and your US Senators. And some key organizations supporting our Saint Paul constituents with their immigration needs are the immigration law center of Minnesota, the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Mid Minnesota Legal Aid, International Institute of Minnesota,
Release MNA, Unidos Minnesota, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, and of course, our volunteer lawyers network. So if you are one of our million viewers at home that know someone that's in need of those resources, please check out their websites or check out on the city of Saint Paul. Thanks Vice President and thanks for your courage and continuing to reiterate your values, our values in a time when individual local elected officials are now being personally gained by the federal administration. We have a good newsletter. And kudos to the newsletter. Your communications. Miss Johnson. I just wanted to uplift, the work of of my legislative aide.
And, she doesn't know I'm gonna do this, but I'm doing it anyway. We have successfully been able to this year, have a series of community discussions that have each taken time and effort to plan and to, execute. And it's just genuinely been a joy and especially in our team right now, we are a mighty team of her and I, of Melanie Johnson and I, and I just wanna, uplift the work that we are doing, but also the work that she is doing here. And she, you know, didn't expect it, but genuinely just really, really appreciative of her. And on top of that, this week, we also have our external posting now available for folks that are looking,
for roles. We are hiring an executive assistant in the Ward 7 office. And so if folks know people, for the viewers that are watching at home, if you are looking for a important work, an important job to join our team, I'm sure Mellie would appreciate the help of having an executive assistant on our team. But I just wanted to shout out, Melanie and also say that we are hiring. So You know someone looking for an executive assistant role, it is now posted on our city jobs website. Thanks so much, miss Johnson, and kudos, Melanie. Well deserved. Speaking of hiring, I'm just gonna jump in here because it's such a great segue to my good
news from, Ward 4, which is that we are inviting interested Ward 4 residents to submit their resume and cover letter demonstrating their interest in serving as an interim city council member filling the position that will be vacated by Councilmember Mitra Jalali on March 8. We are looking for candidates who are familiar with city government and its operations, candidates who can devote the significant time and energy required to successfully represent the residents of Ward 4 and we want applicants who will agree not to run for the vacancy in the upcoming election. And we reserve the right to limit the number of applicants who will be interviewed. The timeline for all of this is going to be
ambitious because we are required by state law to appoint an interim within thirty days after council member Jalali's resignation. So we are asking for cover letters, and resumes by 04:30PM on Thursday, March 13, '2 weeks from tomorrow. We will be interviewing finalists on the morning of Wednesday, March 19, and those candidates will be notified before Tuesday, March 18. So save the date as soon as you apply. And then the council will appoint the interim council member Wednesday, March twenty six twenty twenty five, which is a date on which all of us can be here to take that
vote. Those details do not need to be written down by our millions of viewers at home. They will be available on our On our website now. On our website now. And I believe a press release is going out Yeah. Today. Today. Great. Thanks to mister Wilms for, backstopping me in that piece of good news and to mister Wilms for all of his hard work to get this ready and out the door along with miss Moore and others on our team. We look forward to hearing from interested applicants. Any other good news? Miss Bowie? Yes. Real quickly. So on February 28, the last day of Black History Month, I'll be joining, my colleague at the state representative,
Samakab Hussain, and the attorney general, Keith Ellison, and, a list of other, African American elected officials across the state at Jimmy Lee or, excuse me, Oxford Community Center. So we'll have a celebration. There'll be music. There'll be food, entertainment. You'll hear from, many of us, but that's gonna be between 05:30 and 07:30 in the gym at the Oxford Community Center. Great. Yep. Thank you. Mhmm. Miss Joost. Thank you, council president. I will report back on, our ward's participation in the trivia night last week Yes.
With the Highland District Council. I wanna thank them for organizing the event. There were, I don't know, maybe a hundred people there and a lot of teams, at the clubhouse at the Highland Golf Course. And our team consisted of, myself and, my wonderful legislative aide, Tom Bastian, or two legislative aide, Megan Jekett, and Skyler Manning, and also, my son. And I think the highlight obviously won. We but we did not win. We were we were kind of, you know,
a little bit above average, but I think it was exciting because we all participated. And even my six year old knew an answer to one of the questions about monster trucks. So it was a team effort. We were well represented and and participating in what it was a really great event in the ward. So looking forward to more of those. I can't imagine a better ending to our meeting than that. Seeing that there's nothing else to come before us, thank you all. We are adjourned.