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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025.08.25 CCM STUDY8/25/25 -1- 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 AUGUST 25, 2025 CITY HALL – COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Study Session called to order by Mayor April Graves at 6:37 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor April Graves and Councilmembers Dan Jerzak, Teneshia Kragness, and Laurie Ann Moore. Also present were City Manager Reggie Edwards, City Clerk Shannon Pettit, and City Attorney Siobhan Tolar. CITY COUNCIL MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS Mayor Graves asked for any agenda questions or miscellaneous discussion items. Councilmember Jerzak requested Consent Agenda items 6h. RESOLUTION 2025-76 Adopting the City Commission Code Of Respect and Ethics and 6i. RESOLUTION 2025-77 Adopting the City Council Code of Respect and Ethics be tabled. He noted that he had repeatedly asked that the decorum be added to those items, and because it was not added previously, he thought the Council had opted to postpone it. Mayor Graves said she was going to make the same recommendation, to postpone items 6h. RESOLUTION 2025-76 Adopting the City Commission Code Of Respect And Ethics and 6i. RESOLUTION 2025-77 Adopting the City Council Code of Respect and Ethics, adding the Rules of Decorum, and giving the Commissioners more time to submit suggestions. She suggested it be postponed until the September 22 meeting. Councilmember Jerzak concurred with Mayor Graves and said that if the Codes of Respect went out to the Charter Commission, the Council has no jurisdiction over the Charter Commission, and said Dr. Edwards was going to check into that. He added that getting feedback is healthy. Councilmember Jerzak noted that on page 17 of 137 of the minutes from August 11, the second paragraph, instead of "responsible," the word should be changed to "irresponsible." Councilmember Jerzak asked for the assignment of the date for the purchasing policy. He noted that this has been requested for a long time, and he moved for some type of consensus that the Council get this assigned because it has been at least two years. He asked how the rest of the Council felt, because the date had always been to be determined, and he would like an actual 8/25/25 -2- assigned date. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said she requested a review of the purchasing policy, since it has been at least two years, and that meeting should happen sooner rather than later. She continued with a correction to the minutes in the regular session on August 11 on page 13 of 137, the final paragraph, line four, should say “funds” not “feeds.” Councilmember Moore said she had a resident reach out to her about the pet store ordinance, and she told the resident to also reach out to Dr. Edwards because he had given the resident a date, but she would like to see that ordinance come before the Council next month, if possible. She also concurred that the purchasing policy should be added to the agenda next month. Councilmember Moore stated that under the Consent Agenda, the Council receives a list of rental licenses, and the type four license has come up before in previous meetings. She noted that this time there were several type four licenses with numerous violations. One type four license had 14, another had 17, and the other had 21 violations, for which the City continues to give licenses. She stated she had some urgency to talk more about that with the Council, and she knows that Councilmember Jerzak was working with City Staff on that, but those licenses keep getting put under the Consent Agenda and keep getting approved. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said that years ago, the Council would get a full, long presentation on every rental license, and she does not think the Council needs to go back to doing that. She noted that when there are repeat offenders who stay in type four perpetuity, she did not know if there was anything the Council could do about that. Mayor Graves said she thought that under Mayor Wilson, the change had happened, so it was a while ago. Councilmember Jerzak said that, for clarification, he is not working with City Staff but working directly with Dr. Edwards; he concurred that it could be a policy decision, but there are some things that can be done, such as revocation. He stated that Dr. Edwards is working on setting up meetings with landlords, and Community Development Director Jesse Anderson has plans to make a full presentation to the Council on this issue in the future. He said that while he would be opposed to reviewing every rental license, he thinks there is room for a type four license because they just keep renewing, and while it is the cost of doing business, it is cyclical, and thinks it should be discussed. Councilmember Moore thanked the other Councilmembers for the clarification. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said reviewing those licenses would add a good half hour to the meetings. Councilmember Moore agreed that she did not want to do that either. Mayor Graves said City Staff are probably already thinking about this, but when discussing type four rentals, she remembered the City's rental licensing tends to be a bit more robust than some 8/25/25 -3- other cities. She noted that it is important to remember what happens to the people who are living in those rentals. She said if the rental is not in compliance because of quality of life, or other living situations, and the rental license was revoked, the Council should consider what would happen to those tenants. She said that when City Staff comes forward to discuss the type four rentals, it is done with a holistic approach that addresses some human elements as well. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson asked if Mayor Graves recalled if the Council had ever revoked a rental license. Mayor Graves said maybe once or twice has the Council ever revoked a rental license. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said it has not been often, and the Council takes it very seriously, and wanted to be very clear that the intent is to improve the quality of life. Councilmember Jerzak said his intent would never be to displace individuals, and some things can be done, as there is potential for improvement. The City will continue to prioritize tenant safety. Mayor Graves said that in the past, when she was on the Council, when this topic was discussed, she would ask questions about why inspections are not done, and questions were asked of the residents instead of just looking visually at a space. She said she often felt like the Council was missing other parts of what that experience was really like for the tenants. Councilmember Jerzak said that after being in thousands of rentals across the City, more often than not, they pointed out the things that they did not like, which were mostly the landlords. Councilmember Moore asked if upcoming events could be discussed at this time, if there was no time at the end of the meeting. She noted that the first Resurrected Commission Appreciation Evening is coming up in September, as well as the Random Acts of Kindness nomination. She noted the Annual Tree Canopy was this last weekend at East Palmer Lake, where residents could pick up a free tree. She met the City Forester there, who is willing to come out and assess any tree at a residence. She said the Planting of the Tree is scheduled for September 13, which coincides with the Public Works open house. Councilmember Moore said she hoped those events were on the City website, but she thought she would mention them here as well. Mayor Graves said that, hopefully, those events would also be on the Council calendars, so the Council would have the option to go. Mayor Graves said the only other thing she wanted to highlight was that she was going out of town on vacation and would not be at the next Council meeting. She noted she would be gone from September 5th through the 13th. CITY MANAGER MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS DISCUSSION OF THE USE OF ZOOM/TEAMS/CCX COUNCIL BROADCASTS Dr. Edwards said this issue has come up a few times in previous discussions about the technology that City Staff use, particularly during the Council meetings, whether it be Zoom, CCW, and Microsoft Teams internally among City Staff. He asked if the Council had any thoughts or perspectives about the technology that is being used. He noted that during COVID, everyone used Zoom, and there were times when it would get hacked and other issues, but there are always risks, 8/25/25 -4- no matter what technology is used. He said Microsoft Teams is something that the City does have internal control of, as well as WebEx, but that does not have as much access to the public as Zoom does. He said that a lot of bugs have been figured out with the virtual meetings, but wanted the Council's perspective. Dr. Edwards said that based on the Council’s feedback, City Staff may come back with some recommendations. Mayor Graves said she would pass this over to Councilmember Jerzak, as he was the one who brought it up in a previous meeting. Councilmember Jerzak said he brought it up because of the licenses, and from a discussion standpoint, he gets frustrated over not having any control over the technological breakdowns, or if someone is raising their hand and trying to speak, oftentimes the Council cannot hear them. He said he had mixed feelings, but tends to err on transparency; the more people can see what the Council does, the better. He said he would yield to City Staff for their expertise and did not want duplication of licenses as far as technology goes, but he wants to decide on what technology is being used, make a commitment to that technology, and move forward. Mayor Graves said she does not foresee it being that big of an issue, and she deferred to the City Staff as well. She noted that transparency and availability are important for residents so they can attend a meeting and speak at Open Forum without having to be there in person. She stated she does not know about the licensing and guessed that the price for that is not that significant, but she did not know for sure. She said that Zoom is more accessible for people than WebEx would be, but if City Staff thought that would be better, she would support that. Councilmember Jerzak said he has not heard a single complaint about CCX broadcasting this session. He noted that if people are afraid to speak in front of the Council in person, speaking from their home is a lot less intimidating. He said he wanted to support people speaking to the Council. He brought this up originally because he saw the software licensing on a budget line item and wanted to discuss it to try to save money. Mayor Graves noted that a penny saved is a penny earned. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said she utilized the City website whenever necessary and asked if there is a link provided for these meetings from the City website itself, if residents cannot watch it live, or if they have difficulty with CCX or WebEx. Dr. Edwards said he would defer to City Clerk Shannon Pettit and Deputy City Manager Daren Nyquist. Ms. Pettit noted that there is currently a link on the City website to CCX for public access. Councilmember Lawrence- Anderson said she did not know because she has never looked for it on the website, and thanked Ms. Pettit for the clarification. Mayor Graves asked if the link takes residents directly to the most current recording or just to the CCX website. Ms. Pettit answered that the link takes the resident to CCX, where residents can choose from either the live or on-demand videos. Councilmember Jerzak asked about the joint Finance and Council meetings since they are not broadcast by CCX, and if there was a link available. He noted that he gets inquiries from residents 8/25/25 -5- about how to watch those meetings. He said he refers those residents to Ms. Pettit for a link to those meetings, but asked why she would want 50 emails asking to provide a link for a public meeting. Ms. Pettit said the City does not currently post a Zoom link to the joint Finance and Council meetings, but can certainly start. Dr. Edwards asked if those videos should be provided for all Commission meetings. Mayor Graves said she thought all videos should be available to give the public accessibility. She asked if there was a consensus on that with the Council. The Council agreed that all videos should be made available to the public. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Graves moved and Councilmember Moore seconded adjournment of the Study Session at 6:58 pm. Motion passed unanimously.