Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026.04.13 CCM REGULAR04/13/26 -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 REGULAR SESSION APRIL 13, 2026 CITY HALL – COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1. INFORMAL OPEN FORUM WITH CITY COUNCIL The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Informal Open Forum called to order by Mayor Pro Tem Teneshia Kragness at 7:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Mayor Pro Tem Teneshia Kragness, Councilmembers Dan Jerzak, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, and Laurie Ann Moore. Also present were Interim City Manager Daren Nyquist, City Planning Manager Ginny McIntosh, Public Works Planner Kory Anderson Wagner, City Engineer Lydia Ener, Housing and Community Standards Manager Xiong Thao, City Clerk Shannon Pettit, and City Attorney Siobhan Tolar. Mayor April Graves was excused. 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 4. INFORMAL OPEN FORUM Mayor Pro Tem Teneshia Kragness opened the meeting for the purpose of Informal Open Forum and reviewed the Rules of Decorum. No one wished to address the Council. Councilmember Moore moved, and Councilmember Jerzak seconded to close the Informal Open Forum. Motion passed unanimously. 5. INVOCATION Councilmember Jerzak recited a quote from G.K. Chesterton, "The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion." 04/13/26 -2- DRAFT Councilmember Jerzak also quoted Dr. Wayne Dyer, “Conflict cannot survive without your participation.” 6. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Councilmember Moore moved, and Councilmember Jerzak seconded to approve the Agenda and Consent Agenda, as amended, with amendments to the minutes as stated during the Study Session to remove the March 17 Housing meeting notes, page 88, which is the draft meeting for the City Manager to review, and the following consent items were approved: 6a. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. March 23, 2026 – Regular Session 2. March 23, 2026 -- Work Session 6b. LICENSES AMUSEMENT DEVICES Metro Coin of MN, LLC 6301 Shingle Creek Parkway ENTERTAINMENT LICENSES Oga Madam 6000 Shingle Creek Parkway MECHANICAL Heidelberger Enterprises Inc., 30132 105th Street Northwest Princeton 55371 Home Express Delivery Service LLC 804 Valley Park Drive Shakopee 55325 Precision Point Plumbing 12315 61st Avenue North Plymouth 55442 SPI Mechanical LLC 1116 Lincoln Street Northeast Minneapolis 55413 Total Home Solutions 1008 Prospect Pointe Road Jordan 55352 SIGN HANGER’S Install this Awning & Sign 4835 Lyndale Avenue North Minneapolis 55430 RENTAL INITIAL (TYPE IV– six-month license) 1531 Humboldt Place North R2 GROUP LLC 04/13/26 -3- DRAFT 1543 Humboldt Place North R2 GROUP LLC INITIAL (TYPE II – two-year license) 3206 67th Avenue North K J Arnevik/renae K Arnevik RENEWAL (TYPE IV – six-month license) 5546 Emerson Avenue North Raymond & Cindy Scherbing 6116 Aldrich Avenue North BRIDGE SFR IV SEED BWR LLC 6628 Camden Drive Wells Bovard 7236 Noble Avenue North Caleb J Moses/nicole A Moses RENEWAL (TYPE III – one-year license) 1300 67th Avenue North R & E Anda Family Prop Llc 6809 Fremont Place North 786 Homes-f09 Llc 7225 Major Avenue North Iasis Lii LLC RENEWAL (TYPE II – two-year license) 6907 Dupont Avenue North Evang Luth Ch Of The Master 5412 Fremont Avenue North Lenin Cardenas Duenas 3807 61st Avenue North Ih2 Property Illinois Lp 4019 Joyce Lane Ih2 Property Illinois Lp 6765 Humboldt Avenue North Loan Nguyen 7141 Newton Avenue North Ih2 Property Illinois Lp RENEWAL (TYPE I – three-year license) 4811 Lakeview Avenue Eileen Booker 3000 64th Avenue North Infinite Property Llc 5419 Humboldt Avenue North Cecilia Pineda 6014 Girard Avenue North Rifive Investments Llc 6018 Kyle Avenue North Christina Duong & Danny Vo 04/13/26 -4- DRAFT 6912 Logan Avenue North Hpa Borrower 2017 1 Llc 7217 Camden Avenue North Ih3 Property Minnesota Lp 6c. FORESTRY AND RELATED SERVICES AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER AND THE CITY OF CRYSTAL 6d. RESOLUTION 2026-042 ACCEPTING BID AND AWARDING A CONTRACT, IMPROVEMENT PROJECT NO. 2026-01, 02, 03, & 04, HUMBOLDT AVENUE RECONSTRUCTION 7. PRESENTATIONS/PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS/DONATIONS 7a. RESOLUTION 2026-043 DECLARING APRIL 22, 2026, AS EARTH DAY IN BROOKLYN CENTER Councilmember Moore moved and Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson seconded to adopt a RESOLUTION declaring April 22, 2026, as Earth Day in Brooklyn Center. Motion passed unanimously. 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS 9. PLANNING COMMISSION ITEMS 10. COUNCIL CONSIDERATION ITEMS 10a. TRAFFIC CALMING UPDATE AND 2026 IMPLEMENTATION RECOMMENDATIONS Mr. Nyquist introduced Public Works Planner Kory Anderson Wagner to present this item. Mr. Anderson Wagner stated he made a presentation to the Council a year ago, and hopes to make this an annual thing to report back to the Council on. Mr. Anderson Wagner explained that he would give an outline regarding Traffic Calming in general and 2025 successes, and dig into some projects that the City has recently done. He noted they would discuss the Grandview neighborhood pilot and establish a draft neighborhood traffic circle policy. They would also discuss the Lilac Drive north project, draft speed table policy review, and next steps. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that traffic calming reduces speeds and improves safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. Traffic calming also enhances neighborhood livability and reduces cut-through traffic. Common measures for traffic calming include speed bumps, speed 04/13/26 -5- DRAFT tables, curb extensions that narrow the roadway, and roundabouts. In 2025, there was a major transition in how they collect data for traffic calming. In the past, there were rubber tubes run across the road that counted cars and recorded speed, but they were very troublesome. Those rubber tubes were hard to maintain, and Staff would have to keep going back out to maintain them, and they would still lose data sometimes. One was even sucked up into a street sweeper once. He noted that they opted to transition to radars that are strapped to a telephone pole and can collect more reliably a car going by. In the summer months, when Staff do data collections, they were able to reduce Staff time by about five hours a week. The radar does not collect license plate numbers or faces of drivers, only the time stamp of when a vehicle went by and the speed of the vehicle. Last year, there were radars installed in 20 different locations that were determined by residents complaining about speeding or requesting stop signs. Staff then went to these locations to see if they would meet engineering standards for an intervention. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that permanent speed tables were installed on Newton Avenue this year, and staff piloted traffic circles in the Grandview neighborhood at two locations. Staff also utilized the draft speed table policy and began tracking locations that are tested in ArcGIS to identify patterns and track the frequency of events. This allows Staff to go back and look at tests and data if a resident complains about speeding on their street that has already been tested. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that the Staff has also been working with Brooklyn Center Community Schools, helping develop their safe roster school plan that has been in the works, and lending their expertise and knowledge of the system of the City overall. Mr. Anderson Wagner explained that on East Palmer Lake last summer, the City installed permanent speed tables. Previously, for this area, 85 percent of drivers were traveling at 44 miles per hour, and on a roadway that is designed correctly, 85 percent of the drivers should be driving the posted speed limit. The posted speed limit is 30, but when tested, it was 44 miles per hour, and it also had about 1,400 vehicles a day. He noted that after installing the speed tables, data has shown 700 vehicles are traveling through this area per day, and 85 percent of speeds have slowed to 27 miles per hour. The City also tracked adjacent parallel streets to ensure traffic is not moving over and did not see any speed changes, and 85 percent of speeds were around 30 to 34 mph. From an engineering perspective, that speed is close enough to the posted speed limit that Staff will continue to monitor and see if anything changes. He added that before installing the speed tables, data showed that 2,100 vehicles per day were using this neighborhood, and after the speed tables were installed, the number dropped to 1,700. This means drivers are using Humboldt or some other route, which is the correct thing to do, rather than using a residential street, and should not be used as a cut-through. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that for the Grandview neighborhood, the Department put in two temporary traffic circles at these two intersections, one at 58th and Fremont, and one at 58th and Emerson. At 58th and Fremont, 85 percent of vehicles were traveling at 47 miles per hour in a 30 miles per hour zone, with two crashes annually reported at this intersection. This is a high number of crashes for a low-volume residential area, with 277 cars traveling through this area per day; this was a concerning intersection. A block away at 58th and Emerson, 85 percent of vehicles were traveling a little slower at 37 miles per hour with 136 cars per day, but a school bus was hit at this 04/13/26 -6- DRAFT intersection two years ago, and while no one was hurt, a school bus still got hit there, so this was concerning. After putting in the traffic circles at 58th and Fremont, the speed decreased to 27 miles per hour, with 324 cars going through that area per day, and at 58th and Emerson, the speed decreased to 29 miles per hour, with 155 cars per day. Both streets experienced an increase in the number of vehicles, but a decrease in speed. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that when the City does these pilot programs, they send out postcards to everyone within a quarter mile of the intersection, and the Staff does that because that is a reasonable distance that someone may walk to this intersection and would interact with it pretty frequently. Staff also put sandwich board signs at the intersection with a QR code, where people could scan it and provide feedback. This feedback showed that 61 percent of residents felt the traffic circles made cars slow down and the street safer. Some of the feedback received was that the traffic circles were a brilliant solution to the speed problems in the neighborhood, had a significant positive difference, and helped calm residents’ nerves while making the City safer. He noted that there was some opposition recorded, but it was not against traffic calming itself, but that residents would have rather had stop signs installed. Mr. Anderson Wagner explained that during the pilot, because there are no neighborhood traffic circles in Brooklyn Center, they had to see how EMS and plows would function with these temporary circles. City staff conducted two tests with the largest fire truck and a one-ton snow plow and found that both can make exit one and two, but not the third. To accommodate EMS’s largest fire truck when approaching the traffic circle, they can turn left rather than going all the way through the traffic circle because their lights will be on and their presence will be known. Snowplows will be turning right only at the traffic circle intersection, and can make it through that way. Staff have worked closely to ensure that EMS and plowing operators are comfortable with that, and everyone has been comfortable with that, and there has been good alignment. Staff's next step is to recommend that permanent traffic circles be installed at 58th and Emerson and 58th and Fremont this year. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that City Staff anticipates traffic circles being popular in the City based on the feedback they have received. Due to this, Staff need to come up with some consistent standards for how traffic circles are implemented if they do become more requested. Fortunately, Brooklyn Center is not the first City to build traffic circles, and there is a lot of precedent out there that Staff can look to and make sure that traffic circles are tailored to be perfect for Brooklyn Center, and work will begin on that this year. Mr. Anderson Wagner explained that Staff gets questions a lot about policing versus traffic calming. When the City uses traffic calming through policing, there is an officer who sits on a specific corner for 14 days straight, and this can range in cost from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on overtime versus regular duty. This method is challenging due to staffing limits, and if there is an emergency, the officer has to leave that location, which leads to inconsistency. On the infrastructure side, traffic circles cost $10,000 to $17,000 per traffic circle and are in place forever, and have a consistent and definite impact. 04/13/26 -7- DRAFT Mr. Anderson Wagner explained that the Lilac Drive North is a whole different project and came up through the Park Capital Investment plan that was addressed last year. A resident commented on Lilac Drive being a speedway, and with radar, Staff found that 950 cars were traveling through there per day, with 85 percent of vehicles traveling at 52 miles per hour. This street is posted at 30 miles per hour. City Staff found that this street was a perfect candidate for the City's speed table policy that was adopted last year. City Staff sent out postcards to everyone within a quarter mile of this street to validate that residents felt there was speeding in this area and get feedback on installing speed tables. The residents responded and confirmed there is speeding on that street and asked the City to do something about it. Mr. Anderson Wagner stated that after hearing feedback, Staff recommended installing a permanent speed table on Lilac Drive this year, and did some initial analysis and figured out that the street only needs one speed table. Mr. Anderson Wagner reminded the Council that the draft speed table policy has some guidelines to help guide where speed tables can be installed. These policies follow the Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) compliance set by the Federal Highway Administration in terms of signage and distance. City Staff also looks to the City’s own curtailing of where to put speed tables, while looking at resident streets with a speed limit of 30 miles per hour or less, and less than 4,000 cars per day. Policy requires traffic at the 85th percentile to be 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, with an average of three crashes per year in the corridor. The reason for this policy is that speed tables are effective, but they cannot be installed everywhere due to maintenance impacts, and from a cost management perspective, if they are installed everywhere, it would change a lot of the City's strategies, and Staff wants to make sure they are targeting the areas that have the greatest need, such as Lilac Drive. Other criteria that Staff use include not using them on public transit routes, not using them on municipal state roads, which is just a classification of roads with a certain funding source from the state, and emergency routes, unless fire and police approve. City Staff also looks for other measures that would deem it unfeasible, get it approved by the Public Works Director, and, if the speed table is financially feasible. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that there are exceptions to the policies regarding speed tables, for example, speeding and crash history criteria, specifically, and if it is located in a school zone or next to a park. That area would still have to follow that public transit route Municipal State Aid (MSA), and cannot be an emergency route, but if there is a context of a school zone and park, and the speeding is not high, City Staff would be open to it. The other option is a resident-led approach, which means that 51 percent of property owners within 500 feet must support accepting reduced snowplowing quality in exchange for speed tables. The reality is that with speed tables, the streets can not get a good snowplow. In this context, City Staff would ask residents if they are ok with this trade-off, and if 51 percent of them support it then they have to bring a petition to City Council which would be going against best practice in terms of installing speed tables because they would not meet the speed criteria, or crash criteria but there is some other reason they want speed tables. The Council would then make the final decision on whether speed tables are installed in that location or not. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that the City installed their first permanent speed tables under this policy, and there were no public petitions for speed tables. City Staff evaluated 20 locations in 2025, and Lilac Drive is the only one that met the criteria to be eligible for speed tables. One 04/13/26 -8- DRAFT location on Dupont Avenue between 72nd and 67th Avenue, adjacent to Evergreen Park Elementary, was close to being eligible but failed because it is an MSA road. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that the next steps for Staff will be to continue to evaluate traffic calming requests that they have recently received and to install the permanent traffic circles in the Grandview neighborhood. The permanent speed table will be established on Lilac Drive, and Staff will draft a traffic circle policy that will be presented at the next presentation. He asked if the Council had any questions. Mr. Anderson Wagner asked if the Council wanted to see pictures of what a street without a speed table looks like after snow plowing, versus a street with a speed table. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness confirmed the Council would like to see it. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted that the picture is of Unity Avenue, where there are some speed tables, and the reality is that the blade on the snowplow goes up and loses contact with the ground, so it does not get as clean a plow. Councilmember Moore thanked Mr. Anderson Wagner for the update and noted the Department has done an incredible job leading up to this. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness noted for clarification that traffic circles are for smaller residential areas, and roundabouts are for major intersections, in case people did not know the clear difference. Mr. Anderson Wagner stated that Mayor Pro Tem Kragness is correct, and the ones that the City did in the pilot were small, 10 to 12 feet in diameter in neighborhoods, versus a roundabout, which is about 30 feet in diameter. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness pointed out that speed tables cost $10,000 to $17,000 and asked if money is set aside for those in the current budget. Mr. Anderson Wagner clarified that traffic circles cost $10,000 to $17,000, but when doing the speed tables last year, he anticipated spending about $4,000 per speed table and got all four done for around $2,000 because they did all the work in- house and were able to save a lot of money. He added that speed tables are quite inexpensive, and neighborhood traffic circles will always be more expensive because they have to be contracted out, and there are potential stormwater impacts occasionally. There is a traffic calming budget in the Capital budget every year, and there is more than enough funds to support these two traffic circles this year. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness asked what other options are available for the area on Dupont Avenue near Evergreen Elementary to reduce speed there, since Staff know that area is an issue. She noted that Staff cannot just identify that area and not do anything about it. Mr. Anderson Wagner stated that City Engineer Lydia Ener would touch on MSA compliance. Ms. Ener noted that this is a problem not just in Brooklyn Center but in other cities as well. State aid standards are pretty broad, and have stringent requirements and have good uses in a lot of 04/13/26 -9- DRAFT places, but their one-size-fits-all solution does not always fit for small neighborhood roads. Right now, state aid recognizes that and is in the process of revamping its state aid guideline design handbook. These guidelines are what all cities have to follow when creating plan sets or any improvements on a state aid roadway, and City Staff lodged a complaint that speed tables were not included or were not able to be used. She noted that state aid acknowledged that it is potentially a miss, and now, during the state aid process, they may be included in the potential items that can be varied. As of right now, it is in the hands of the state aid rulebook committee, but Ms. Ener noted she is sitting on the Technical Advisory Committee of City Engineers along with 13 other cities and is strongly pushing for speed tables to be included, if not in the handbook as an option, but to be included in the list of applicable variances to present a case for speed tables. The Variance Committee would have the final say, but if an item is included in the variance list, it typically gets approved. She added that Staff are working to get that changed and are actively sitting on the Committee to do so. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness thanked Ms. Ener for that information and noted it is nice to know that the Staff is advocating for people. Councilmember Jerzak thanked Mr. Anderson Wagner for the update and presentation. He asked if he wanted to direct a constituent to look at the traffic circles, other than Grandview, where they could go. He noted that there is also a question about who will maintain the inside of the traffic circles, and worries about complaints from residents if it is not maintained. Mr. Anderson Wagner noted there are quite a few traffic circles going into North Minneapolis, and the traffic circles will not be designed with plantings in the middle and will be completely concrete with a rolled curb. The rolled curb will allow more space for fire engines and plows if they have to mount the curb, and there will be no greenery there to maintain. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness moved, and Councilmember Moore seconded to accept the Traffic Calming Update and authorize Staff to proceed with 2026 Traffic Calming, Planning, and Implementation consistent with the City’s draft Traffic Calming policies and practices. Motion passed unanimously. 10b. RENTAL LICENSE PROGRAM ORDINANCE AMENDMENT – FIRST READING Mr. Nyquist introduced Housing and Community Standards Manager Xiong Thao to present this item. Mr. Thao noted that he and the Council have talked a lot about the rental license program and amendments to the program. The last meeting was on March 9, where the draft Ordinance was presented for the Council to review, and tonight that Ordinance will be presented. The proposed Ordinance will eliminate the performance-based rental license program and implement a rental license that is valid for two years. The rental license will be issued administratively by Staff and will no longer go to the City Council for approval. Periodic reporting will be provided to the Council on the rental license program. The rental license will be issued before passing the rental 04/13/26 -10- DRAFT license inspection. Rental license inspections must pass within 90 days of issuing the rental license. The Ordinance will allow for a rental license transfer to a new owner if the property is sold, if the transfer fee is paid, and the rental inspection has passed within six months of issuing the license. In the event a rental license does not pass the inspection within 90 days, the rental license application will be considered incomplete and cancelled. The property owner would have to reapply for a new license. If there is no ability to compromise with the new owner, the Staff would bring the license to the Council for consideration for either a revocation or suspension. Mr. Thao noted that the new proposed Ordinance would remove the eight-hour Crime Free Housing training requirement and the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) inspection requirement. The proposed Ordinance would remove the requirement for a submission of an Action or Mitigated Plan. The proposed Ordinance also removes police calls for service in determining the license type, which no longer applies since tiered licensing has been removed. He noted that Staff did meet with the Housing Commission on March 17, and the Commissioners provided input on changes to the rental license program. Overall, the Commission liked that the rental license program retains the rental license inspection and the City is still able to regulate tenant behavior on the property using police calls for service 12-911. He added that the Commission had concerns over who is asking for the rental program changes, and why the City is rewarding type three and type four licenses with longer licenses. There was a healthy discussion about the Commission’s concerns and about the positives of the program. Mr. Thao explained that tonight is the first reading of the request for the Ordinance amendment. It will require a second reading and a Public Hearing. Due to the notice requirements, the next Public Hearing can be scheduled for May 11 at the Council meeting. If the Ordinance amendment is adopted on May 11, the change would go into effect 30 days following newspaper publication of the Ordinance language. Councilmember Jerzak asked for clarification because it conflicts with the meeting minutes, and would read the minutes aloud for the record on page 91 of 299 or the draft meeting, page five, it states, "Mr. Thao shared that the Council is aware. He explained that one of the Councilmembers is part of the landlord group, and they wanted the rental program to change." Councilmember Jerzak noted that this is not true and is not part of a landlord group. He added that he was requested and met with them once, as he also did with the tenant group, and wanted that to be very clear. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness asked Councilmember Jerzak to clarify which paragraph he was in. Councilmember Jerzak noted that it was in the fifth paragraph and wants that to be clear. Councilmember Jerzak stated it is easy to get things wrong, but on page 89 of 299, the last paragraph, it reads, "Mr. Thao stated that the owner already has a license. He added that with the new two-year program, the owner does not have to qualify for anything." Councilmember Jerzak pointed out that this is also not true; the owner still has to qualify, fill out an application, and that needs to be clear. He added that he does not want anyone to think that an applicant does not have to do anything for a rental license and that the City just hands it to them, but he understands the ambiguity of being in those types of meetings. 04/13/26 -11- DRAFT Councilmember Jerzak asked for an explanation on page 88 of 299 in paragraph four, which reads, "The Brooklyn Park program is a two-year program. For the record, inspections are done every year, but only 50 percent of the units are inspected. So, by the second year, 100% of the building will be inspected, he explained. That's the reasoning to you that the proposed Ordinance is modeled after Brooklyn Park, but the City will do 100 percent of the inspections each year." Councilmember Jerzak noted that it was not his understanding, and he could not find any consensus or anything in the minutes. It was his understanding that the two-year rental program, that 100 percent would be completed by then, or 50 percent each year. If there were a ten-unit apartment building, the first year there would be five inspections of the common areas and those types of things. He asked if this was true because he was not able to find that information. Mr. Thao noted that when he met with Brooklyn Park, they did explain that their program is 50 percent for multi-family properties. They do 50 percent, and then in year two, they do the other 50 percent. Councilmember Jerzak asked if that policy is true for Brooklyn Center, too. Mr. Thao explained that Brooklyn Center will be doing 100 percent of the units every two years. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness noted that it was her understanding that inspections would not happen every year, but every two years, and the clarification here is that it should state every two years. Councilmember Jerzak stated he wanted to be sure that the Ordinance is very clear on this, because that is what the City will be held to. Councilmember Jerzak noted that during COVID-19, the City was only inspecting 20 percent of properties, and it worked. There will always be complaint inspections, and if somebody brings a complaint, it is inspected, whether it was part of the 50 percent that were inspected or not. He asked if this was Mr. Thao's understanding. Mr. Thao explained that during the Housing Commission, it was explained that inspections are done once every two years, and in between those two years, if there are tenant concerns regarding their unit or property, rental inspectors will be out to inspect those units. If there are corrections, the inspectors can issue correction orders to the property owner to address those concerns. Councilmember Moore asked for more clarity on whether 100 percent of the inspections will be done every two years from the day of the application date, or the approval date for that property owner. Mr. Thao noted that the rental license program is on a rolling calendar, and every license, depending on what the owner applied for, is issued and depends on how long a license the owner qualifies for. He added that moving forward, there have been some internal conversations with Staff about standardizing that and having one expiration date for all the licenses instead of a rolling calendar. That is not set in stone, and Staff is still working through the pros and cons of what that would look like, especially with the Staff that they have and the number of licenses and inspections that would have to happen within a time frame, whether that is six months or a year. Councilmember Moore asked to confirm that Staff is still doing a rolling calendar by application date. Mr. Thao confirmed that it is correct. 04/13/26 -12- DRAFT Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated she remembered having a conversation that it made sense logistically to have a standardized date, but realistically, with the City Staff, it was not feasible at the time. Councilmember Jerzak added that if he went to the Department of Motor Vehicles and bought a one-year tab, he would not expect to get cut off if he had a three-year license, and common sense would say that when a license comes up, that is when people would renew them because they had already paid for the previous years. He noted that on page 88 of 298, it states, "It would essentially mean anyone with a three-year license would lose one year and would have to renew more frequently." That is misleading, and for context, someone cannot lose what they do not have. In participating with both the tenants and the landlords, it gets into the health, life, and safety, and into this trade-off, as inspections happen at the unit more frequently. A lot can happen in that third year, and if nobody calls in a complaint, there is a tendency for things to go, and that needs to be put into perspective. He added that he does not recall from the meetings that there was a lot of pushback about that. Mr. Thao asked if he was referring to the health, life, and safety piece of it, or inspections in general. Councilmember Jerzak stated that the health, life, and safety are the emphasis that the Council was concerned about because they talked ad nauseam about things that were not, but the Council was contributing to the number of inspections and corrections, which ultimately the tenants ended up bearing the cost of those things. He added that the Ordinance should not just be shuffling the chairs on the deck, and health, life, and safety needs to be consistent with the inspectors. He stated he does like the fact that Mr. Thao will be coming back to the Council to let them know what is working and what is not, and will not have to wait 15 years. Mayor Pro Tem Kragness stated for clarity that when the City goes from a three-year license to a two-year license, those property owners will not be losing a year. It is kind of like going to the store and buying something that is $100, and it is on sale for 50 percent off, and someone says they saved $50, but they actually spent $50. Councilmember Moore moved and Councilmember Jerzak seconded to approve a first reading of Ordinance amending Chapter 12, Section 12-901, 12-902, 12-906, 12-908, 12-910, 12-911 through 916, and Section 12-1504(4)(b) of the Brooklyn Center City Code of Ordinances regarding Rental Licensing and Vacant Property Exceptions within the City of Brooklyn Center. Motion passed unanimously. Councilmember Jerzak moved, and Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson seconded to schedule a second reading of the requested Ordinance amendment and Public Hearing for May 11, 2026. Motion passed unanimously. 11. COUNCIL REPORT 04/13/26 -13- DRAFT Councilmember Jerzak reported on his attendance at the following events and provided information on the following upcoming events: • Shared that he and Councilmember Moore attended a Highway 252 meeting on site between 70th and 72nd for the pedestrian bridge crossing proposal. He noted that MnDOT was there and made their full proposal, and there were a number of residents who live there and brought up their concerns. Some scheduled updates are coming up on the Highway 252 project, but he noted that the meeting was very respectful. He added that initially MnDOT wanted to meet on the other side of the park, and he had to ask them to come over and speak to everyone, but they were hesitant, and he asked them if it was because they could not hear anything, and MnDOT confirmed that was the reason. He continued that, for the record, when MnDOT came over, it was very difficult to have a conversation. This brings up the important question regarding noise mitigation because it would be impossible to sit on a patio in the nearby neighborhood with the freeway going through there. • Shared that he attended another Zoom meeting on Wednesday night with MnDOT regarding the Highway 252 project and was asked what the Council would need for presentations. • Shared that he attended with Councilmember Kragness the Fit Butters, as well as one-to- one meetings with Mr. Nyquist. Councilmember Moore reported on her attendance at the following events and provided information on the following upcoming events: • Shared that she attended the Highway 252 group meeting with residents, and it is important that the Council responds to them and participates when possible. • Shared that she attended a Fish Fry to benefit SEEP at the American Legion Maple Grove, which assists with basic needs for residents in Brooklyn Center. • Shared that she attended the Auxiliary Fire Benefit on Friday night with Councilmember Jerzak and Councilmember Kragness, and it is always humbling to be in a room of heroes who show up for everyone, every day, between the duty crew and the paid-on-call. She thanked the Fire Department for inviting the Council and for their service. 12. ADJOURNMENT Councilmember Moore moved, and Mayor Pro Tem Kragness seconded the adjournment of the City Council meeting at 7:55 pm. Motion passed unanimously.