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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 10-25 CCM Study SessionMINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA STUDY SESSION OCTOBER 25, 2021 VIA ZOOM CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Study Session called to order by Mayor Mike Elliott at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor Mike Elliott and Councilmember Marquita Butler (arrived at 6:05 p.m..) and April Graves (arrived at 6:07 p.m.), Kris Lawrence -Anderson, and Dan Ryan. Also present were City Manager Reggie Edwards, Fire Chief Todd Berg, Interim Police Chief Tony Gruenig, and City Clerk Barb Suciu. CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSION OF AGENDA ITEMS AND QUESTIONS City Manager Reggie Edwards requested a revision to the agenda to consider Item 3 Snow Emergency Discussion before Item 1 in the interest of guest attendees. The Council approved reordering the agenda. Councilmember Lawrence -Anderson asked if they were going to give final recommendations for Commission applications that evening. Mayor Milce Elliott stated those will have to be at the next meeting as there was no time to get the applications before this meeting. Councilmember Lawrence -Anderson requested the following change to the Regular Session minutes of October 11, 2021: on page 16, to reword "Paul Oman does bring experience with unique housing" to "Paul Oman does bring unique housing experience." The Council agreed with this revision. MISCELLANEOUS IN- PERSON MEETINGS Dr. Edwards noted the Council ended the local emergency, but they did not address the issue of Council to return to meeting in person. He asked if Council had an anticipated time frame to return to in -person meetings. 10/25/21 -1- Mayor Elliott stated it is an evolving situation, and it is difficult to forecast. He stated it depends on how the virus proceeds, the rates of infection, and how things improve. Councilmember Ryan stated he would feel more comfortable receiving clearer guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health before deciding as it would be a professional assessment of risk. Councilmember Lawrence -Anderson stated she would defer to her colleagues. She noted she is curious about what other cities are doing and that some residents would like a return to in -person meetings. Mayor Elliott stated that some cities are entirely remote while others are using a hybrid approach. He noted Brooklyn Center has a higher infection rate than other neighboring cities. Dr. Edwards stated Staff can provide information on how the virus is affecting the community and compare it to when they transitioned to virtual meetings. He invited Fire Chief Todd Berg to share his insight on the matter. Fire Chief Todd Berg stated he does not have an idea of what other cities are doing, but last week he saw that Brooklyn Center moved to the middle of the pack for Hennepin County cities. He confirmed that the City was often the highest early on, but they have stabilized in the last couple of weeks. Councilmember Lawrence -Anderson asked if Staff could find out how many cities are doing a hybrid model and if Brooklyn Center has the technology to do a hybrid model whenever they do return to in -person meetings. Dr. Edwards stated they anticipate being able to have meetings in a hybrid format going forward. City Clerlc Barb Suciu stated the tentative installation date for that technology is November 1. NOVEMBER 1 WORK SESSION ON PUBLIC SAFETY RESOLUTION Mayor Elliott clarified that the session would be held on November 8 as November 1 is the start date for a couple of relevant positions. Councilmember Ryan stated he is fine with a November 8 Work Session as long as Dr. Edwards sets the agenda for that session. He stated he wants to hear from the City Manager because there are issues on how the Staff can support this Resolution. Mayor Elliott stated this particular presentation is the responsibility of the Mayor as he is the chair of the Implementation Committee. He stated the City Manager is going to be on the agenda to provide any relevant information, but for Councilmember Ryan to demand Dr. Edwards to create the agenda is deeply undermining the process they set up. Councilmember Butler stated that most of the Council gave input on what they would like covered 10/25/21 -2- at a Work Session on the Public Safety Resolution. Councilmember Graves asked when they would receive the agenda, Mayor Elliott stated Council would receive the agenda on Thursday before the meeting, Ms. Suciu asked if the November 8 meeting would be a special Worlc Session. Mayor Elliott confirmed it would be a special Work Session as it was not an originally planned Work Session. Ms. Suciu noted November 8 is a regularly planned Council meeting. Mayor Elliott stated there is no agenda on that day, so there will be an agenda focused on the Resolution and its implementation. Councilmember Graves stated she thought the extra meeting was on November 1. Councilmember Lawrence -Anderson noted that was her understanding as well. Ms. Suciu stated they do have a special Work Session scheduled. At the beginning of the year, they scheduled extra Mondays which would have been on November 1. She explained November 8 is a regularly planned Council meeting. Councilmember Graves stated she was under the impression that they would be meeting on November 1, and it is not a good idea to squeeze this topic into a regular meeting. Councilmember Lawrence -Anderson agreed as did Councilmember Ryan. Mayor Elliott stated the issue with the November 1 date is that is the first date they have the Community Engagement Specialist Fellow and the Data Analyst. Therefore, having the meeting on November 1 would not allow for them to have time to speak to some of the items identified by the Council on their first day of work. He stated if they cannot have the meeting on the 1st or the 8th, then he would suggest having it during the week. Councilmember Butler stated she believes they had decided to cover what they could on November 1 and then have another follow-up meeting to include the FUSE fellows. She noted she would rather have just one meeting, but she does not believe it is a good idea to have during a regular Council meeting. Mayor Elliott stated he is proposing November 11 and added that is the 180-day deadline to report back on their progress. Councilmember Lawrence -Anderson added she would like to maintain the November 1 date. She noted November 11 is Veteran's Day, which is a staff holiday. She understands the FUSE fellows would be new, but she believes they will need multiple sessions as there is a lot to discuss. Mayor Elliott stated as long as they have the understanding that there may be some information that the Council is seeking that may not be available on November 1, then they can move forward with the November 1 date. He noted he does think that a later meeting would be more fruitful. 10/25/21 -3- Councilmember Graves stated they should move forward with the November 1 date and offered the idea to get to know the FUSE fellows better at the date. From there, they could identify some action items and topics for future meetings. Councilmember Ryan stated he would advocate for the November 1 Work Session and a follow- up session considering the amount of time this topic may take. Mayor Elliott stated they would move forward with a Work Session on November 1. DISCUSSION OF WORK SESSION AGENDA ITEMS AS TIME PERMITS SNOW EMERGENCY DISCUSSION Dr. Edwards stated that this was a conversation the Council had a couple of meetings ago on the possibility of doing away with the snow emergency. He stated Staff has prepared information to address the inequalities and towing issues that Council had brought up earlier. He introduced Chief Berg to present on the topic. Chief Berg noted the policy was developed with an emphasis on public roadway safety for residents and visitors. Through careful and purposeful planning, they developed this plan that was approved by Council on November 4, 2018. He noted they were careful to make this as easy as possible and launched a public education campaign so that a majority of the community was aware of the change. They asked their Community Service Officers to use superior customer service when approaching parked car owners during snow emergencies. He noted they aimed to have maximum roadway safety with as little impact on residents. Chief Berg showed a slide with some pictures of snowplows navigating the streets after a snowfall. He noted the plows are extremely wide and do require as much use of the road as possible. Chief Berg stated additional signage addressing the snow emergency regulations was added throughout the City with orange flags marking the new signage. The police performed `knock and talks' asking owners to move vehicles and informing them of the ordinance asking them to move cars before writing citations or towing vehicles. Vehicles were released if the owner appeared before completing the tow, unlike other snow emergency cities. He added they encouraged vehicle owners and citizens to visit the website and utilize the City's `Notify Me' platform, which is Now Code Red and advertised the snow event on community social media pages and other information outlets. Chief Berg showed a slide detailing snow event data. In the 2018-2019 season, there were eight snow events, and in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons there were four events each season. The tows decreased over the years. Chief Berg noted some benefits of having a snow emergency ordinance include making it easier for Public Works Staff to maintain roadways, keeping the streets clean and open for emergency personnel, making it easier for law enforcement to identify suspicious vehicles in neighborhoods, decreasing hazardous plow -around, and addressing citizens' complaints about plow -around. 10/25/21 -4- Chief Berg stated they would like to start a pilot program to allow for public parking at 16 parks that have 20 different parking lots available. He noted they would ask the cars to be moved within N hours after the snow emergency is lifted, which is pretty standard for surrounding communities with snow emergencies. Councilmember Lawrence -Anderson stated this is a step in the right direction and she would like a pilot program implemented for the upcoming season. Councilmember Ryan asked if Staff had approached churches to aslc if their lots could be used for additional parking. Dr. Edwards stated they have not had the time to do that yet. Councilmember Ryan stated he agrees with the program and noted the City needs to retain the ability to tow cars. Chief Berg stated the ordinance was not created to penalize people but to have safe roads in Brooklyn Center. Mayor Elliott noted the burden towing can be on community members. With the goal of resident economic stability, they need to make sure they do not put residents into a situation that hinders them from going to work or doing what they need to do. He stated he would consider the option of ticketing rather than towing so that people could still use their cars to get to work. Mayor Elliott noted a neighboring city stopped enforcing their ordinance due to the inequality it caused in their community. Dr. Edwards stated they have taken every measure to eliminate towing and the parking options are ultimately an incentive for residents. Councilmember Butler noted she appreciates the `lcnocic and talks' that law enforcement performed and asked if the Police Department's current capacity can continue to support that initiative. Interim Police Chief Tony Gruenig stated he believes they can continue that service with their carient staffing levels. He noted they are trying to add staff to their Department. Chief Gruenig noted they did not have a towing ordinance before this, and that led to frustration with noncompliance. They could have written a citation, but that doesn't create compliance from the community. He added they do not want to tow vehicles, but they need to maintain roadway safety. Councilmember Butler stated another way to get the information out would be to distribute information to apartments and local businesses in the community and to post a sign if they would allow it. She added she is okay with moving forward with the pilot program as long as they continue the `knock and talks' and exhaust every option to communicate the program to the residents. Councilmember Graves stated she agrees they need to keep the `knock and talks'. She added it could be helpful for people to know when their area would be scheduled to be plowed so residents could have a better idea of when to move their cars. She noted residents that who typically have their area plowed earlier in the day are at a disadvantage, so it could be helpful for them to know 10/25/21 -5- a time frame of when their cars need to be moved. Councilmember Graves stated she would ultimately entertain the idea of the pilot program. Councilmember Graves noted she voted against this ordinance when it first came up, but if they can revisit the pilot program partway through the season and pursue suggestions of the Council then she would be willing to try it out. Councilmember Ryan stated it should be a priority to make all efforts to avoid towing of cars, but safety is his ultimate concern. Mayor Elliott stated there is consensus to move forward with the pilot program. ADJOURN STUDY SESSION TO INFORMAL OPEN FORUM WITH CITY COUNCIL Mayor Elliott closed the Study Session at 6:55 p.m. STATE OF 1\�NNESOTA) COUNTY OF HENNEPIN) ss. Certification of Minutes CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER) The undersigned, being the duly qualified and appointed City Clerk of the City of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, certifies: 1. That attached hereto is a full, true, and complete transcript of the minutes of a Study Session of the City Council of the City of Brooklyn Center held on October 25, 2021. 2. That said meeting was held pursuant to due call and notice thereof and was duly held at Brooklyn Center City Hall. 3. That the City Council adopted said minutes at its November 8, 2021, Regular Session, City Clerk 10/25/21 -6-