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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025.02.24 CCM STUDY2/24/25 -1- DRAFT 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 24, 2025 CITY HALL – COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Study Session called to order by Mayor Pro Tem Kragness at 6:09 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor Pro Tem Teneshia Kragness and Councilmembers Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Dan Jerzak, and Laurie Ann Moore. Mayor April Graves was absent and excused. Also present were City Manager Reggie Edwards, City Clerk Barb Suciu, and City Attorney Siobhan Tolar. COUNCIL MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS Mayor Pro Tem Kragness explained Mayor Graves was in Manchester as she was asked to present at a conference. She thanked her community for supporting her own journey with public speaking and professional development. DISCUSSION OF RESOLUTION 2024-138; RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE BROOKLYN CENTER COMMUNITY SAFETY AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION COMMISSION AND DEFINING DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Mayor Pro Tem Kragness pointed out the item was tabled from a previous meeting because not all Councilmembers were present. She suggested the item be tabled again because the full Council was not present. Councilmember Moore stated that no other cities in Minnesota have rolled out a successful program as suggested. There is already a pilot program in place. The Council needs to focus on basic needs. Only a few of the original principles have remained at the forefront of subsequent proposals. The proposal also gives too much power to the Mayor. Councilmember Moore moved to move the item from the Study Session to the Council Consideration Items. Councilmember Jerzak noted the 45-day period has expired, the Council must fulfill its timeline commitment. He explained he has several concerns with Resolution 2024-138, and he has met with Dr. Edwards several times. The item was called for a vote at a late hour at the last meeting 2/24/25 -2- DRAFT of 2024. He added he agrees with comments made by Councilmember Moore and Mayor Graves has previously made her perspective on the matter clear. Dr. Edwards stated the motion needs to be addressed. Councilmember Jerzak seconded to move the item from the Study Session to the Council Consideration Items. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness pointed out Councilmember Jerzak previously requested more discussion on the item. Councilmembers have also requested the item be pushed back until all members of the Council could be present. On April 8, 2024, May 13, 2024, September 23, 2024, November 25, 2024, and January 27, 2025, Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson was absent. Her absences have required the item be pushed back time and time again. It would be unfortunate for the Council to move forward with the same item despite past convictions that the full Council should be present. Councilmember Jerzak noted the seven pages of Resolution 2024-138 was provided to the Council the evening of the December 9, 2024 meeting for a vote. They also wanted to wait on Resolution 2024-138 and the proposed Code of Conduct until a new Councilmember was sworn in. He stated he doesn’t like to leave the Mayor out of the conversation, but he supports the consensus of the Council. Dr. Edwards stated any further discussions on the item could be handled during the regular session if it were to be moved to Council Consideration Items. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness reiterated the Council must be consistent with their processes such as waiting for discussion until the full Council is present. Councilmember Jerzak stated he would like to hear from Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson noted her agreement with Mayor Pro Tem Kragness. Councilmember Moore added she is new to the Council. Therefore, she is not responsible for decisions of the Council prior to her appointment. She asked if Mayor Graves will be present at the next meeting. Dr. Edwards stated he doesn’t know Mayor Graves’ schedule without looking it up. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated she believes Mayor Graves will be present for the first meeting in March but not at the second March meeting. Councilmember Moore reiterated the Council doesn’t need to rely on precedents set by a group of Councilmembers that she wasn’t a part of. By waiting for discussion, they are continuing to prolong the topic. The item is low-hanging fruit. The City is hemorrhaging money. The City needs to get back to the basics such as functioning water meters. 2/24/25 -3- DRAFT Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson asked what the present discussion is regarding. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness explained they are discussing the motion to move the item to the Regular Session. If approved, then the Council would need to make a final decision on Resolution 2024-138 during the Regular Session. Councilmember Moore stated there is a motion on the table. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated she has not acknowledged Councilmember Moore. Councilmember Moore asked for clarification on what is on the table. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated Councilmember Moore needs to wait to speak until she is acknowledged. Councilmember Moore stated she was done talking. Dr. Edwards stated there is a motion on the table. It is the responsibility of the presiding officer to ask who supports the motion once discussion has been complete. Councilmember Jerzak asked what the motion is. Councilmember Moore explained her motion was to move the item from the Study Session to the Council Consideration Items. Councilmember Jerzak stated the item could be moved to the Council Consideration Items, then be tabled. Dr. Edwards confirmed the item could be tabled after being discussed on the Regular Session. If the present motion fails, then there would need to be a motion to extend the freeze. Councilmember Moore offered a friendly amendment to her motion. Councilmember Moore moved and Councilmember Jerzak seconded to table the item until the next Council meeting and extend the 45-day timeline until it can be voted on by the majority of the Council. Dr. Edwards explained the item would need to be moved to Council Consideration Items before the item could be extended. Motion passed unanimously. Councilmember Moore asked if the motion was to move the item to Council Consideration Items which would allow for a vote on the item being tabled and extended. Dr. Edwards confirmed that was correct. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated on page seven of the January 27, 2025, Regular Council meeting minutes, there is an error. She asked for it to be corrected at the previous meeting, but it has not 2/24/25 -4- DRAFT been corrected. The third paragraph stated Councilmember Kragness supported the 45-day freeze of Resolution 2024-138. However, she did not support the freeze. Ms. Suciu stated the minutes can be pulled from the Consent Agenda to allow Staff time to review the recordings. Councilmember Moore pointed out there are recommendations for appointments to Commissions. She explained she would like to pull the appointments to the Cultural and Public Arts Commission. She had a discussion with the City Clerk about the application process. The applications are only one pages and from a few years ago when a different Mayor was in place. Councilmember Moore noted the Council just received the applications for the other positions. She has other concerns about the Cultural and Public Arts Commission. Dr. Edwards pointed out the Cultural and Public Arts Commission was not in existence a few years ago. There used to be a Sister Cities Commission. Councilmember Moore stated the application was only the name of the applicant, a redacted address, and details on how long the applicant had lived in Brooklyn Center. She was not part of a scoring process for the Cultural and Public Arts Commission as she was for the Financial Commission and Housing Commission. Councilmember Moore requested that she receive the entire applications for those recommended to serve on the Cultural and Public Arts Commission. She added all Commissions should have a consistent application and appointment process. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness explained the current process allows for the Mayor to make appointments, but the Council may provide input. If there is a concern with the process, then that would require a different discussion. Councilmember Moore stated she has an issue with the recommendations then. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated any issue with the recommendations could be communicated to Mayor Graves. Also, the applications could be requested from Staff in advance of the meeting. Ms. Suciu explained there were many applicants to the Cultural and Public Arts Commission during the initial recruitment for the Commission. Because of that, there was a scoring worksheet to handle the applications. The scoring sheet and the one-page application was provided to the Council. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness pointed out the City has had difficulty with filling and maintaining Commission positions. Therefore, she doesn’t want to hinder the appointment process. 2/24/25 -5- DRAFT Councilmember Moore stated the Council is supposed to receive recommendations of the Mayor before the meeting, but she did not receive the recommendations. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated the City Clerk passes the applications along to the Council as they are received. Ms. Suciu confirmed she passes along redacted applications to the Council as they are received. The Mayor provides her recommendations to Staff, and then the recommendations are put in the packet for Council review. The next Cultural and Public Arts Commission meeting is mid-March. Therefore, the appointments to the Cultural and Public Arts Commission can be postponed without issue. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness suggested the appointments to the Cultural and Public Arts Commission be postponed while the appointments to the Financial Commission and Housing Commission remain on the agenda as planned. There was no objection from Council. Dr. Edwards asked what additional information the Council is requesting regarding the appointments to the Cultural and Public Arts Commission. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated Councilmember Moore has an issue with the recommended appointees. Councilmember Moore stated the appointments, application process, and recommendation process should be discussed privately. The appointments are intended to be a consensus of the Council. There needs to be a private conversation regarding potential Commissioners. She also has concerns about the scoring process. Councilmember Jerzak noted he forwards any concerns with applications to the Mayor after he reviews the application. It is the responsibility of the Mayor to appoint Commissioners. It is a priority for the Council to robustly discuss and refine the application process to avoid any public embarrassment of applicants. Councilmember Jerzak added any emails about applicants must not include the entire Council as it could violate open meeting laws. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness noted it was the consensus of the Council to postpone the appointments of the Cultural and Public Arts Commission. Councilmember Jerzak explained he attended a program with the League of Minnesota Cities. He learned the League will not be insuring for cannabis. Federal banking restrictions are very strict as well. Those regulations impact what is required of Staff. There is also a limited Staff capacity that must be considered. They also need to avoid a General Fund subsidy for non-performing assets. Councilmember Jerzak asked if the City wants to compete with early opportunity licenses. The licenses will first go to those representing communities that have been negatively impacted by cannabis laws in the past. State law requires all items being sold through municipalities be tracked, and there will be bureaucratic hurdles to navigate. The IRS regulations highly restrict cannabis 2/24/25 -6- DRAFT businesses, which impact taxes. The State of Minnesota is working to overcome the illicit market as well. Councilmember Jerzak stated cannabis is still considered as a Schedule I narcotic. It is unclear what the current administration will do in that space. Cannabis is a cash-only business. Councilmember Jerzak added Native communities already have a headstart on selling cannabis which may inhibit municipal sales. Councilmember Jerzak reiterated there are a number of important discussions the City must have regarding cannabis. The Minnesota League of Cities has an expert named Kyle Heartnet that can be a resource for Brooklyn Center. Councilmember Jerzak noted there may be other insurance opportunities for the City to pursue. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness thanked Councilmember Jerzak for sharing his insights. Dr. Edwards noted Staff has been working on the same issue. There is a presentation regarding cannabis licensing for the next meeting. A municipal cannabis store is a separate discussion. The Finance Director and Liquor Store Manager are working through considerations for a municipal store. Ms. Suciu stated the City’s licensing allows for three licenses. They are working on language to incorporate the license within the City’s licensure. The language will be presented to Council. Councilmember Jerzak requested the presentation include details on what would happen should Brooklyn Center pass up their license. City Attorney Siobhan Tolar stated the license doesn’t go back into the pool. However, the regulations may change. CITY MANAGER MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS DISCUSSION OF COUNCIL PRIORITIES City Manager Reggie Edwards noted the Council has received a list of previously mentioned priorities. There is a ranking based on the Council’s recommendations along with the proposed timeline to address the priorities. The yellow items represent those in progress. The purple are the third quarter items and marked with a “C”. Lastly, items marked with “D” are for the fourth quarter. Dr. Edwards asked what the Council wants to discuss for the franchise fees and rental inspections. He explained the franchise fees topic is a low priority, but it would be an 18-month process. 2/24/25 -7- DRAFT Mayor Pro Tem Kragness thanked Staff for compiling the list. She requested any comments regarding franchise fees and rental inspections be emailed to Staff. Councilmember Jerzak asked if the Council wanted him to explain why he requested the rental inspections conversation. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated the explanation and comments could be sent to Staff. Dr. Edwards stated he would like emails from Council. Once the emails are received, the comments will be summarized and provided in a weekly update. Councilmember Jerzak asked if he could provide one example regarding rental inspections. The current process was written in 2012, which he was a part of. Every violation is written similarly even though different violations may be more severe. Staff also receives complaints about the need to restart the licensing steps. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness asked if there would be time to dive into one of the discussion items. Dr. Edwards stated there is not enough time. Councilmember Moore stated some items are a higher priority. For example, there are 400 dysfunctional and non-functioning water meters. Staff has not told Council if those water meters are being charged the minimum rates. Councilmember Moore noted the expanded response team has been operating for six months, and they are buying vehicles. There is a 20 percent cost share for the City, and it is important to discuss. She requested the item be discussed sooner. Councilmember Moore added the grants topic is not complete because the process is still unclear to her. The next budget meeting is in June, so they need to be informed about the grants before that. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness clarified the order of the items is based on each Councilmember’s submitted list of priorities. Even though Councilmember Moore may believe other items are more pressing, that was not the consensus of the Council. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated non-functioning water meters are still being charged the minimum fee, per a recent Staff presentation. Dr. Edwards stated more answers about water meters can be included in the weekly update. Dr. Edwards added the update on the expanded response is scheduled as soon as possible. Councilmember Moore stated she is aware the presented list is in order of the Council’s priority ratings. However, she is allowed to add commentary as the list is a discussion item. She doesn’t need simple things repeated to her. 2/24/25 -8- DRAFT ADJOURNMENT Mayor Pro Tem Kragness adjourned the meeting at 6:56 p.m.