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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026.02.23 CCM STUDY02/23/26 -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 FEBRUARY 23, 2026 CITY HALL – COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Study Session called to order by Mayor April Graves at 6:04 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor April Graves, Councilmembers Dan Jerzak, Teneshia Kragness, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, and Laurie Ann Moore. Also present were Interim City Manager Daren Nyquist, City Clerk Shannon Pettit, Director of Public Works Elizabeth Heyman, and City Attorney Siobhan Tolar. CITY COUNCIL MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said she had concerns about traffic and whether there was any follow-up on that because it was during the open forum. Mayor Graves said she remembered that being mentioned, and asked Interim City Manager Daren Nyquist if he had any follow-up. Mr. Nyquist said he had no follow-up at this time, but will reconnect with the gentleman who brought it up during open forum. Director of Public Works Liz Heyman said that the gentleman was speaking in support of the traffic calming project that is planned for reconstruction. She said he did not have any specific comments; he was just voicing his support. Mayor Graves said the program the gentleman was speaking about was a pilot program, and he did not want the traffic circles removed from his property. Mr. Nyquist said City Engineer Lydia Ener followed up with the gentleman. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said she wanted to be sure that the gentleman knows what the City's plan is for a long-term solution. Ms. Heyman said she has spoken to that gentleman several times, and he just wanted people to know that he was in support, and he has been notified that this construction season, those traffic circles will be built and made permanent in those two locations. 02/23/26 -2- Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said she has not driven over there recently and asked if it was a true roundabout. Ms. Heyman said it is not a true roundabout, but a traffic circle, which is a smaller area of concrete in the intersection and is more cost-effective than a roundabout. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson asked if she had any photo examples. Ms. Heyman said she could double-check if there are photos online, but she can send engineering drawings. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said she is not used to roundabouts, and they freak her out, but she knows they are effective. CITY MANAGER MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS Mr. Nyquist said he asked Police Chief Flesland to provide a statement involving the Officer shooting that happened a few hours ago, but was notified Chief Flesland was not able to, and was still involved on scene. Mr. Nyquist said he had a statement he wanted to read on behalf of Chief Flesland with updates. Mr. Nyquist read the following statement: "On February 23, 2026, at approximately 3:55 p.m., Brooklyn Center Police Officers were dispatched to the business area in the vicinity of the 5500 and 5600 blocks of Brooklyn Boulevard and Brooklyn Center to investigate a report of a male waving a gun around outside retail establishments. Brooklyn Center Police Officers arrived in the area and were confronted by the subject, who was armed with a handgun. Gunfire was exchanged between the subject and officers, and the subject was struck by their gunfire. Officers immediately rendered first aid, and the subject was transported to an area hospital. A handgun was located at the scene. The Brooklyn Center police department was assisted by multiple area police agencies during this incident. Brooklyn Center police officers have been placed on critical incident leave. The Brooklyn Center police department requested the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigate this use-of-force incident. There is no further danger to the public related to this incident. We are currently working with the BCA Public Information Officer and another City's Public Information Officer to finalize a media release that we will distribute as soon as possible." Mayor Graves thanked Mr. Nyquist for the update and said she looks forward to seeing what the press release is. She added that she put out her own statement on her social media page, and there might be more questions from the community around the number of shots that were fired. She strongly encouraged the Police Department to put a press release out as soon as possible so the community can have as much information as possible in the interest of transparency. HOTEL DISCUSSION & UPDATES Mr. Nyquist said Fire Chief Todd Berg would be presenting an update on activities that have been happening at the hotels and the Fire Department's annual report. Chief Berg said he was back again this week to provide an update on some of the hotels. He noted that so far this month, the fire department has inspected five of the nine hotels, and the rest will be completed by the end of the month. He stated that the Baymont was inspected and no severe life or safety conditions were observed; only minor items were noted. He added that the Quality Inn 02/23/26 -3- was almost identical to the Baymont, with typical write-ups and recommendations. He stated that Motel 6 was inspected yesterday, and management there has not always been the greatest, but this hotel had the least amount of things to address after inspection. He added that their manager is very adamant about going through the Fire Department’s checklist once a month, versus annually, and has policies in place regarding visitors, and the place is in good condition. He commended the manager and other staff at Motel 6. Chief Berg continued that last Thursday, the Super 8 was inspected by the Fire Department along with Hennepin County, and there were no severe life safety corrections; only minor corrections were noted. He added that they will be back to do a follow-up inspection in 30 days. He stated that the staff at the Super 8 said there has been an increase in renters since the Travelodge shut down, and they have installed buzzers on crash bars so they know when doors are being propped open, and have limited visitors during the day and force people to enter through the front door. Chief Berg explained that the Baymont was inspected last week, and the Baymont and the Super 8 have the most relocated lodgers from the Travelodge in those two hotels. He said the Baymont has had issues with visitors propping doors open, and the Fire Department has been there four or five times in the last week due to smoke alarms. He said visitors are smoking in the hallways and setting up smoke alarms. He added that the Baymont has put squeakers on their exit doors, so if the doors are open for more than a minute, the staff are notified and can shut the door. He said the Baymont is also not allowing visitors. Chief Berg stated that there is a room-by-room inspection scheduled tomorrow for the Travelodge. He said the Travelodge is still without its food and lodging license through the county. He said he was in the Travelodge last week and the stairs were being ripped out and replaced, because it was a write-up on the property. He added that he saw painters and cleaners at the property and people working on the doors, as the hotel has had a lot of door issues. He said Travelodge staff have told Community Development they will call the county after this inspection, in order to get a re- inspection so the business can be opened again. Chief Berg asked if the Council had any questions regarding these hotels. Councilmember Lawrence-Anerson asked what the problem was with the stairs at the Travelodge. Chief Berg said at the inspection that three or four stairs were spongy and had been broken. The stairs were still usable, but were being held together by the carpet. He said he would be hesitant to use those stairs in an emergency situation with people running down them, or First Responders running up them in an emergency. Mayor Graves thanked Chief Berg for the presentation. FIRE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT Mayor Graves said the Council was ready to hear the Fire Department’s Annual Report. Chief Berg said he was pleased to present the 2025 Annual Report for the Brooklyn Center Fire Department. He stated he would like to read the Chief’s message to the Council and the citizens 02/23/26 -4- of Brooklyn Center, "On behalf of the members of the Brooklyn Center Fire Department, I am pleased to present our 2025 annual review. This report provides a year-end summary of our operations, accomplishments, and continued progress as a department. Throughout 2025, we remained committed to reviewing, resigning, and re-focusing our service model to better meet the needs of our community. I am incredibly proud of our team. Their dedication, adaptability, and professionalism have enabled us to successfully address every challenge placed before us while continuing to deliver the high level of service our community expects and deserves. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to all department members for their commitment to every level of the organization. I also want to thank the City Council, the City Manager, our fellow City staff, and our mutual aid partners for their ongoing collaboration and support. Most importantly, thank you to our community. With your support, we have grown into a department you can be proud of and depend on. We are grateful for the trust you placed in us. Looking ahead to 2026, we are focused on continued recruitment of community members to join our Department and serve their neighbors. We are also exploring the expansion of our duty crew model from 12 hours to 24 hours per day over the next one or two years. This enhancement would provide a faster, more consistent response to calls for service, while easing the burden on our paid on-call firefighters during overnight hours. As we evaluate this transition, we remain committed to identifying the most cost- effective approach for our taxpayers. Thank you for your continued support." Chief Berg continued that the Fire Department's mission is to protect the lives and property in the community from emergencies involving fire, medical, hazardous materials, and environmental causes. He stated that they accomplish their mission through education, fire prevention, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and other non-emergency activities. He added the goals for the future of the Fire Department by 2028 include: applying and hopefully being excepted for a federal SAFER grant to help with funding to initiate a 24-hour duty crew, continuing to work with other emergency responder groups to deliver equitable and professional response to our community for calls of service, help support staffs emotional and physical well-being, promote from within the vacant captain positions, and continue recruiting paid-on-call firefighters. He stated that this will be the third year the Fire Department will be applying for the SAFER grant. He added that this year the Department used a new grant writer with a higher success rate in Bloomington, Eden Prairie, and Hopkins, where those cities all received multi-million dollar grants for the same types of grants. He added that recruitment for paid-on-call firefighters will begin again in late spring. Chief Berg explained that the Fire Department is staffed by five full-time employees, 18 paid on- call firefighters, and nine in the recruit stage. He stated that they operate a 12-hour duty crew comprised of paid on-call firefighters out of the West Station from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. He noted that the Department is authorized to have 40 paid on-call firefighters. He added that he has been with the Department for 36 years and has never seen 40 on-call firefighters, but it is something that they will strive for. He continued that finding paid on-call firefighters is getting harder each year, and this is a nationwide problem, not specific to Brooklyn Center. Chief Berg displayed a slide showing the organization chart and noted that one of the captain positions at the West station is vacant. He added that the Department is down a few firefighters 02/23/26 -5- from years past, and has a lot of young firefighters, so they are giving opportunities for training and Staff development to move into those captain positions, which would be an internal hire. Chief Berg noted the highlights and successes for 2025, stating that the Department received 2463 calls, which is 164 more than in 2024, with an average of about 6.75 calls a day. He stated that while this might not seem like a lot, 6.75 calls is a lot for a department with 18 people and only for full-time responders. He added that 78 percent of these calls were handled by the duty crew. Of these calls, 1,370 were medical-related responses, and 1093 were fire-related responses. There were 16 structure fires, zero related fire deaths, 14 auto/mutual aid received, and 34 auto/mutual aid provided to another community. He said that while the numbers indicate they provided more than they received, it is due to having a younger Fire Department, and it is important to get experience and opportunities, and that is one of the reasons the Department agreed to offer that type of help to neighboring communities. Chief Berg said he is most proud of the 17,249 hours of service provided by paid-on-call firefighters, with 3,142 hours of training by paid-on-call firefighters. He noted that the Department also conducted 409 fire inspections, with 682 re-inspections. The Fire Department attended 73 events, providing public education to the community, including 5,579 people trained in hands-only CPR since 2016. He added that 1,090 students took part in Fire Prevention Week and learned fire safety. Chief Berg stated that last year, he updated the City's fire prevention ordinance. This involves many changes to bring the code up to its present-day expectations and rules by refreshing the ordinance. These changes allow the fire department the ability to charge for some of their services. He stated that the Department is not looking to collect any fees, but more so have people in building owners do the right thing and not be as dependent on the fire department. He stated that in 2025, there were five firefighters with 42 years of combined service who left the Department, and welcomed seven new recruits. Chief Berg added that last June, he assisted the Bemidji Fire Department after their June 25 windstorm event with leadership and call coverage so that Bemidji Firefighters could tend to the damage they encountered at their private homes and not have to worry about reporting to the fire station for calls for a few days, and worked to manage crews from the City of Bagley and Pelican Rapids for 30 hours. He stated that in 2025, they saw their first electric vehicle fire and have been training for this type of event for years. The car was parked next to the pumps at a gas station, and the Department got the chance to use their specialized tools and training to extinguish an electric car fire. He explained that a typical car fire uses 300 to 500 gallons of water to extinguish, which is typically what is carried in fire trucks, and takes ten to 15 minutes to extinguish. The electric car fire took two and a half hours to extinguish and required almost 30,000 gallons of water. Chief Berg explained some of the anticipated challenges and goals for 2026 through 2028. He said increasing staffing levels and fire truck replacement planning. He said the Council approved three fire trucks, and they will arrive in quarter one of 2027. He stated that firefighter safety, which includes emotional and physical health checks, has been a success. He added that Brooklyn, the 02/23/26 -6- Fire Department's dog, will continue to be used for emotional support for both the firefighters, City Staff, and the public. Chief Berg said when he was presenting at the last Council meeting about the hotels, Brooklyn got away from him and ran over to another gentleman. Chief Berg said he spoke to the gentleman afterwards, who said having Brooklyn visit him was exactly what he needed. He said at another special deployment that Brooklyn was at reflects the positivity of the City committing to their two emotional support dogs. He said he reported two years ago that the Department and Brooklyn were at the funeral for the three Burnsville first responders who were killed, and when the gun purchaser was sentenced in federal court, the victims' families requested that Brooklyn be present in the courtroom with them. Chief Berg noted that the Department continues community engagement to represent the Fire Department as more public functions within the City and has discussions with residents of the elderly care facilities. He added that the new fire prevention ordinance should help citizens of Brooklyn Center for years to come. He noted that there will be another open house at the West Fire Station on September 19, 2026. He added that on September 11, 2025, a gym gifted them with two star climbers, and the firefighters broke into two teams and climbed 110 flights with all of their gear on. Chief Berg displayed a pie chart with incident types and how Brooklyn Center compares. He stated that in 2025, they had 56 percent EMS calls, which is about ten percent less than the state and national average. He added that good intent calls are a lot of canceled calls or mistaken smoke, at 10 percent, which is close to the state and national average. He stated that Brooklyn Center is at 14 percent for false alarms, which is a little higher than the average, and service calls were at 10 percent, which is also a little higher than average. He explained that service calls are for things like lift assists, ot to clear people from a stuck elevator, and smoke alarms that are chirping. He added that five percent of their calls are for fires, and five percent are for all other calls. Chief Berg stated that the busiest hour in 2025 was from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., and the turnout time from the minute they get a tone to go to a call to when the truck leaves the building is two to three minutes for the duty crew. He stated that for all calls, the Staff who are coming from home to the fire station, getting geared up and on the truck is about eight to nine minutes. He said if the Department had a 24-hour duty crew, a lot more medical calls would go out at night that they do not necessarily go to now, and turnout time would be a lot faster by having two people staffed in the fire station. Chief Berg said every year, the busiest day of the week changes, and in 2025, it was Sunday. Chief Berg said the busiest month last year was July, and February was the least with 153 calls. He added that so far this year, they are already at 360 calls for service. He asked the Council if they had any questions. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson asked Chief Berg to repeat the date for the open house. Chief Berg said on September 19. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said she was happy to hear the 02/23/26 -7- Department is planning for a 24-hour duty crew, and she remembered discussions about that two years ago during budgeting. She asked if the Department had any invites this year to be in schools for fire safety. Chief Berg said the Department sends invitations to schools every year prior to Fire Prevention Week to see if the schools would allow them into the classrooms and teach fire safety. He said one school had a conflict, and the Department tried to work around it, but the school kept canceling, and one other school never responded to the Department. Councilmember Lawrence- Anderson said she has memories of being in elementary school and getting information about fire prevention, and going home and telling her parents not to smoke in the house and to get smoke detectors, and she was thanked by her parents for the information, and told to be quiet, but the information is still valuable. She added that when a firefighter comes into a classroom of fourth graders, that is an experience those children do not forget. Chief Berg said he and the therapy dogs, Brooklyn and Rex, were at Brooklyn Center High School for mental health day before winter break, and visited for an hour with the students, and he said it was amazing how many students remembered them coming to their elementary schools. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson said going into schools absolutely makes a difference. Councilmember Moore asked about the SAFER grant that they were applying for, and said the Council received some information that the first time the grant was applied for, the request was for 100 percent federal funding coverage, and the second application for the grant was 60 percent coverage the first year, then down to 40 percent, and then zero. She asked if it would be the same now that they are using a more experienced grant writer, or if the grant would have 100 percent coverage, or coverage that diminishes over three years, and then the City has to look at that as a budget item. Chief Berg said he does not know until the grant process opens, and they see what the stipulations are. He said that Councilmember Moore was correct, and the first two years that they applied, it was 100 percent federally funded. He stated that last year, when they applied, the first two years the City had to pay 35 percent, and the third year the City paid 65 percent, and in the fourth year, the City is on the hook for the full 100 percent. He said he imagined that it would be similar this year, and they have one full-time firefighter position that will not be filled in the 2026 budget, and he hoped that this would absorb the majority of the 30 percent. Councilmember Kragness thanked Chief Berg for the presentation, and said she was a graduate with a Fire Chief who was shedding light on the things that no one talks bout, and said she is glad to see wellness checks are becoming a priority. She said she is curious what is being done to avoid burnout with such a small crew. Chief Berg said the crew is doing the best they can, and going back to 6.75 calls a day does not seem like a big thing, but paid-on-call Staff have other careers, and this is a second job to them so they are being woken up two to three times a night, which makes it harder to go back to their career day job that pays their mortgage. He said they are doing everything they can to help with that, and starting a peer support group within the Fire Department right now with a contracted psychologist who is helping train four members of the Fire Department. 02/23/26 -8- Councilmember Kragness said when she went to the Police Chief's graduation, he handed out a graduation book to write down thoughts and things, and asked if that was something the Fire Department could implement. She said she was trying to think of things like journaling to be able to get those thoughts out and find another way to cope with things. She said at the graduation she attended, she learned so much about what it does to people mentally to be first on the scene when something happens. Chief Berg said the book at graduation is sort of a secret, but he said he was going to steal that idea because he wished somebody had given him a book 36 years ago to start jotting things down, because he would have a pretty good book going right about now. He said it is a brilliant idea, and he has not been to a lot of the Police swearing-in ceremonies, but the couple that he has been to, he noticed it too, and it is a good idea. Councilmember Jerzak said over the last few years, it has become evident that the carcinogens from fires cause cancer, and said he knows there are rigorous things that the Department has to do for cleaning and replacing uniforms, but asked if Chief Berg could elaborate on that. Chief Berg said right now they have four groups of seven sets of gear that just went in to be annually cleaned, inspected, and repaired. He said their gear does get small tears, and worn out in the knees and elbows, and a new set of gear, not counting the air pack, is close to $7,000 and lasts for 10 years, before OSHA mandates they are replaced. He said that getting seven sets of gear cleaned, inspected, and repaired costs $1,500. He said that is the important part of keeping those carcinogens out, and that is why the gear costs as much as it does, because it has to be safe for the firefighters. He noted that five years ago, the Fire Department did not even clean their gear, because they did not know how. He said when he started as a firefighter, the dirtiest firefighter that came back to the station was the one who worked the hardest, but little did they know that that was killing those people by not going home and showering right away. He added that now there are garden hoses attached to the fire trucks to hose off all the insulation and soot off their gear before they get back into the trucks. Mayor Graves thanked Chief Berg and extended her gratitude to the rest of the Department. Mayor Graves said there was an EDA/Work Session item, and asked if the Council would prefer to take a ten-minute break before starting the Regular Session or jump into the Work Session item and try to get through it in the ten minutes they have left of the Study Session. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson suggested they take a short break. Mayor Graves said she would adjourn the Study Session, and they would take a ten-minute break before starting the Regular Session. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Graves adjourned the Study Session at 6:47 p.m.