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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022 02-28 CCM STUDY SESSION MINUTES 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 FEBRUARY 28, 2022 VIA ZOOM CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Study Session called to order by Mayor Mike Elliott at 6:03 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor Mike Elliott and Councilmembers Marquita Butler, April Graves, Kris Lawrence- Anderson, and Dan Ryan were present. Also present were City Manager Reggie Edwards, Community Development Director Meg Beekman, and City Clerk Barb Suciu. CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSION OF AGENDA ITEMS AND QUESTIONS Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson stated she would like to have further discussion on Council Consideration Item 10b. Resolution Establishing the Community Safety and Violence Prevention Implementation Committee. She asked if they could move the item to the Work Session to allow for more discussion. Mayor Mike Elliott stated they have a presentation on item 10b. Resolution Establishing the Community Safety and Violence Prevention Implementation Committee, and he would like for the Council to take action on the item that evening. If the Council is not ready to proceed after the presentation, then the item can be tabled. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson stated she was amenable to his suggestion. Councilmember Ryan noted his agreement with Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson as he also has several questions. There was a lot of interest in the Implementation Committee, and it would be difficult to choose its members. He thanked Mayor Elliott for the suggestion to possibly table the item, but he would like the item to move forward in a timely manner. MISCELLANEOUS Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson stated a resident had indicated a change to minutes that have already been submitted to the City Clerk for the regular meeting. The change was a minor detail from Diane S. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson noted she received the request through email. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson explained the resident would like her comments regarding diverse population to use the Community Center to specify she was referring to the community's senior population. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson added Diane S. would also like for her 2/28/22 -1- comments to specify her desire for the Council to be thoughtful in the future use of the Heritage Center. Mayor Elliott agreed they could change the record to reflect the resident's comments. He asked City Clerk Barb Suciu if she had any comments on the change. Ms. Suciu stated she did not have anything to add. Mayor Elliott stated the May 10 event at the Heritage Center is not on the agenda, but they need to decide if they want to move forward with the event. If they do not receive feedback from the Council, the Event Committee may change the date or move the event to another location. He asked Councilmembers for their opinions on the event and when the event could be discussed further. Councilmember Ryan noted he submitted several detailed questions to Staff regarding the event that he has not received a response about. He stated the event would be good for the community, but he has operational concerns. His support of the event depends on responses from Staff Mayor Elliott stated the next meeting is March 14, 2022. City Manager Edwards confirmed the next Council meeting is March 14,2022. Mayor Elliott asked for more feedback from the Council. Councilmember Graves stated she has a couple of questions,but she would like to hear the answers to Councilmember Ryan's questions as well. Her questions were reflected in the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson noted her agreement with Councilmember Graves and Councilmember Ryan. As a matter of policy,the Council needs to decide what types of events the City would waive the fees for. They need to be careful from a revenue standpoint because it is an enterprise fund. Mayor Elliott stated Staff will return with answers to the Council's questions for the March 14, 2022 meeting. He added the event planners may move the date or location of the event in the interim. Councilmember Ryan stated the Council should consider returning to in-person meetings while taking into account guidance from the Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health. Many other cities are returning to meet in person. As mentioned by the City Manager,there could be health safety measures implemented for the meetings. He has heard concerns from community members about connectivity issues with the online meetings. Also, having meetings in person would improve credibility. He added he would like to hear the opinions of other Councilmembers. Councilmember Graves agreed she would like for the meetings to be in-person again. The staff has mentioned ways for the community to be part of the meeting digitally such as submitting questions or watching the meeting. She added she would not be able to go past 10:00 p.m. for that evening's meeting. 2/28/22 -2- Mayor Elliott stated staff will look at the timeline to return to holding meetings in person. He noted there are benefits to both methods. As for the timing, he hopes they will complete the meeting by 9:00 p.m. while still allowing for discussion and hearing from the public. Councilmember Graves noted she suggested they discuss the American Rescue Plan Act funding item that has been pushed back a few times. Mayor Elliott confirmed they would get to that item. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson stated they should address current mask policies and COVID-19 updates. They may want to consider rescinding the current emergency mask mandate. Mayor Elliott asked if Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson was asking for a presentation on current COVID-19 conditions. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson stated she would like a very brief presentation, a synopsis for the public, and a discussion about removing the current mask mandate. DISCUSSION OF WORK SESSION AGENDA ITEMS AS TIME PERMITS CONTINUE ALLOCATION OF AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT FUNDS Dr. Edwards noted this would be the third presentation about the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the ARPA of 2021 into law. The ARPA provides $1.9 trillion in additional relief to respond to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The City of Brooklyn Center received a total allocation of$3,200,000 with half the funds received earlier in 2021 and another half available to be requested in 2022. Dr. Edwards stated similar to CARES Act funding, there were principles for the use of ARPA Funding established. An inter-department group of Staff initially met to begin discussing the use of funds, the process for allocation, and to develop a framework through which funding decisions would be made. Principles intended to serve as a guide for the City expenditure of ARPA funding. Dr. Edwards stated the guiding principles of the ARPA funds include serving a clear and direct public purpose and benefit, taking measures that err on the side of improving the safety and the health of staff and the public related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, bolstering long-term communication capacity between the City and residents, promoting public health through encouraging vaccines, COVID awareness in general, bolstering communications throughout the City related to events, facilities, accessibility, and services, enhancing communication for various emergency and safety campaigns, and recovering or providing reimbursement for operational financial hardship. Dr. Edwards explained they plan to maximize the use of funds to invest and increase capacity within the community to recover and thrive beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The first year would use 60 percent of the funds for community investment and 40 percent for operational investment. Then in the second year, 70 percent would be used for community investment, and the remaining 30 percent would be used for operational investment. Dr. Edwards stated additional guiding principles of the ARPA funds include using funding in a manner that provides long-term, multi-generational wealth-building and economic stability and 2/28/22 -3- using funding in a manner that lowers the overall tax burden of residents. He noted any new programs developed or funded with ARPA funds will have an identified sustainability plan for how they will continue after the funding period is over. Dr. Edwards invited Community Development Director Meg Beekman to continue the presentation. Community Development Director Meg Beekman stated there has been extensive community engagement to identify projects to focus on. In the summer of 2021,the City convened a group of community stakeholders to develop a framework for a new direction for the City. As part of a follow-up to this work, this group was reconvened over two meetings to provide input and guidance on the use of ARPA funds. Ms. Beekman explained during their initial sessions, this group of community stakeholders identified four key areas that were critical to stabilizing the community and initiating real change. These areas were around public safety and security, economic development, public health, and community life resources. The four areas were carried forward into the ARPA funding discussions as a way to identify priorities and ensure that the funds were being used most effectively. Ms. Beekman noted a community group convened twice over two weeks. During their first meeting, the community stakeholders learned about the ARPA funding program, the established guiding principles, and the programs and projects that had been proposed previously. They identified gaps in the program proposals and discussed key areas of focus. At their second meeting, the community stakeholders worked together to come to a consensus on priorities for the use of the funds and the programs to be funded. The input gathered from the work determined the funding priorities included in the ARPA Funding Plan. Ms. Beekman stated out of the community engagement process and through the work of identifying program funding, several themes arose around which ARPA-funded initiatives revolved. The funding focuses on programs that build capacity, center economic development, youth, and build capacity. Ms. Beekman explained the focus of building capacity is achieved through leveraging existing assets in the community, strengthening partnerships, and investing in the community. As for centering economic development and youth, a majority of the programs and initiatives that were prioritized through the community engagement process involved a focus on multi-generational wealth building and youth engagement. Additionally, the process to create the ARPA investment plan was embedded in the community, and involved community-based visioning. The funding intends to strengthen community partnerships and resources. Ms. Beekman stated with the ARPA funds, one of the guiding principles was to utilize a great proportion of the funds externally, and to build capacity within the community. The proposed ARPA Investment Plan utilizes 75 percent of the funds externally and 25 percent of the funds on internal projects and revenue recovery. Ms. Beekman added, based on the program priorities identified by the community stakeholder group, Staff has prepared a proposed ARPA Investment Plan. The investment plan includes a mix of internal and external funding programs and allows flexibility in terms of what program year the 2/28/22 -4- funds will be delivered in. The project will be moved forward based on the timing and availability of the funds, and Staff will provide annual reports on the use of the funds and program implementation. Ms. Beekman showed a slide with a table depicting the programming for the ARPA funding plan in order of priority. The highest priority is workforce development, and many of the components are in partnership with Brooklyn Park. They would seek out sub-grants for community partner organizations to deliver workforce development training, a Youth Entrepreneurship Program through expansion of Brooklynk Services and programming, connecting higher barrier youth and Black Indigenous Person of Color job seekers to jobs, and a Career Pathways Program focused on adult,meaning those aged 24 and up, workforce development. Brooklyn Park has also committed funds to workforce development efforts. Ms. Beekman stated the next priority is regarding youth outreach and engagement. They would contract with community partners to establish a Youth Outreach team, continue to work on Youth on Boards and work on online and in-person youth outreach to enhance and expand youth and family participation and engagement. Ms. Beekman noted the next priority is a Commercial Property Development Fund, which is a wealth-building strategy. The fund would establish a fund to support local small businesses with the acquisition of bricks and mortar real estate. Funds will be used to provide equity to leverage private lending and to provide gap financing for commercial development that supports small businesses. Ms. Beekman stated another priority is food access. They would like to use the funding to support food distribution operations in the City and expand access through the creation of a mobile food distribution program in partnership with CEAP and CAPI. It would be similar to Rec on the Go but be Food on the Go. Ms. Beekman noted an additional component of the ARPA funding plan is a Small Business Resource Hub,which is a community-based space to support workforce development, co-working space, innovation lab, and hub for small business technical support. Ms. Beekman stated another program is the Humboldt Neighborhood Peace, Harmony, and Prosperity Small Area Plan. For that program, the idea is to develop a community-led vision for the future of the Humboldt Neighborhood that includes goals for housing, open space, street- scaping,and business development and to identify short and longer-term implementation strategies and support an initial investment in the neighborhood to catalyze the vision. Ms. Beekman added Health on the Go is a program with some ARPA funding allocated which would expand upon the partnerships created as part of the pilot Health on the Go program and expand services to residents. Ms. Beekman stated some of the funding could be used for central beautification and business improvement districts. They hope to utilize funds to establish a central Business Improvement District to enhance clean-up, snow removal, seasonal lights and greenery, and placemaking, 2/28/22 -5- meaning programming to be designed in partnership with district businesses. Ms.Beekman stated Public Art Matching Fund would be funding to cost-share public art initiatives on private property. Lastly, they would like to create a Daunte Wright Memorial by commissioning an artist. Mayor Elliott stated they were going to move into open forum, so Ms. Beekman would have to continue the presentation at a later time. ADJOURN STUDY SESSION TO INFORMAL OPEN FORUM WITH CITY COUNCIL Hearing no objection, Mayor Elliott closed the Study Session at 6:47 p.m. STATE OF MINNESOTA) 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 the 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 February 28, 2022. 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 March 14, 2022, Regular Session. WIN A City Clerk Mayor 2/28/22 -6-