REGULAR BROOKLYN PARK CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, July 21, 2014 Brooklyn Park Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. 5200 85th Avenue North Community Engagement Initiative Video Renee Martin City Manager Verbrugge stated that with the emphasis of community engagement tonight and some of the work being done was community oriented and he wanted to highlight an immigrant history project done through the University of Minnesota and Shue QaMoua, Outreach Specialist, was interviewed for that project and presented the video. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Jeffrey Lunde PRESENT: Mayor Jeffrey Lunde; Council Members Rich Gates, John Jordan, Peter Crema, Bob Mata and Mike Trepanier; City Manager Jamie Verbrugge; City Attorney Jim Thomson (arrived at 7:32 p.m.); Community Development Director Kim Berggren; and City Clerk Devin Montero. ABSENT: Elizabeth Knight (excused) Mayor Lunde opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. 2A RESPONSE TO PRIOR PUBLIC COMMENT None 2B PUBLIC COMMENT None 3A MOTION GATES, SECOND MATA TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS SUBMITTED BY THE CITY CLERK. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 3B1 City Manager Verbrugge introduced Jody Yungers as the Director of Recreation and Parks Department. 3B1 MOTION LUNDE, SECOND GATES TO APPROVE THE CITY MANAGER S APPOINTMENT OF MARY (JODY) YUNGERS AS DIRECTOR OF RECREATION AND PARKS AT AN ANNUAL SALARY OF $115,000 EFFECTIVE AUGUST 4, 2014. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 3B2 Recreation and Parks Program Supervisor Pat Busch briefed the Council on the Step To It Challenge Award. She introduced Hennepin County Coordinator Sonja Savre and she presented the award. 3B3 Mayor Lunde and Council interviewed applicants to fill vacancies on the Citizen Long range Improvement Committee and Human Rights Commission. 3B4 Elizabeth Tolzmann briefed the Council and introduced Nelima Sitati and Karen Hawley, CEI
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 2 Measurement Team, and they gave a mid year update. At 7:32 p.m. City Attorney Jim Thomson arrived. Mayor Lunde commented on the growth of the Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty, (RCAP) and asked if they could get those numbers broken out by year. He stated he was curious to see with the recession at the end of decade where those numbers and growth went. He stated the housing bubble crisis hit the community hard with foreclosures and would like to see if those numbers rebounded or if the increases were still accelerating. City Manager Verbrugge stated that he along with Ms. Sitati were on the Housing Policy Plan Working Group of the Metropolitan Council and the group had the discussion at their last meeting and were also looking at factors to consider for the housing plan. He stated they were also interested in socioeconomic data that was specific to the city because they were looking at the regional issue but also doing it from a starting point in Brooklyn Park. He stated the information on RCAPs would be more dated but had overlaid the information with other indicators that included employment and poverty rates within the metro area. He stated they could pull that information together and provide it to the Council. He stated it was a good snapshot of where the city was within the region on some of those issues. He stated it also demonstrated that the community was taking a leadership role in terms of how the city was approaching solutions to those issues. Mayor Lunde stated he wanted to understand how the city got more people who fit in the RCAP condition. He questioned if it was the housing crisis created more affordable housing in the city compared to other communities or the conditions of each individual person worsened or both. He stated if there were things the city could do to help with the housing side because it was a concentration of housing and affordability. He stated the city tended to get people who had limited means. He stated another breakout could be if one person while in the city, if their condition worsened or improved and would be another policy decision on how to help them, help the people moving to the city because they needed affordability and access to the things the community provided. City Manager Verbrugge stated that it was a good direction to the Measurement Team to get more data and help present the issue. He stated they couldn t get down to the individual units in the analysis but had census tract information. He stated the greatest growth in the RCAPS was in the areas that were in the multi housing concentration in two census tracts especially in the southern portion of the city. He stated it was hard to attribute that to the housing crisis that occurred because the foreclosure crisis was endemic throughout the entire community. 3B5 Mayor Lunde briefed the Council and introduced Community Outreach Antonio Smith and Recreation and Parks Anthony Bates and they briefed the Council on the Cities United Initiative.
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 3 Council Member Jordan questioned how they would recruit mentors and get people involved. Mr. Smith stated they were looking to recruit mentors, other community organizations and businesses. He stated they wanted the holistic approach and wanted to involve everyone in the community. Council Member Jordan questioned if they had plans to involve the faith community. Mr. Smith stated they were working with BAMA and would be approaching the church groups individually as well. Mayor Lunde stated the Cities United was where many cities talked about different solutions and one of the possible future steps would be to have a City United where Brooklyn Park would have their own day to pull people together on what the city was trying to do. He stated he heard achievable, measurable, sustainable, and the activity was to find something very specific to work on like child development, transitional jobs, or providing avenues for kids after school. He stated it might not be a city thing but would be about people who had the expertise to help define an initiative and find out a few things that could be done and build on it. He stated the next steps would be to have a meeting and identify those resources. Council Member Mata questioned if they were going to be looking at finding jobs for kids or at getting kids off the streets. He questioned if they were going to be looking at how to get the kids out of the problem areas, how to get them out of the situation they were in and give them hope, give them jobs and establish pride in what they did. He questioned that when they were done with that part was it going to lead to the other members of community, like Hispanics, Hmong and anyone else other than just the African American youth. Mr. Smith stated on the 14 Down and Counting, Items 8 through 14 talked about youth employment, teaching children to read and was an important action plan. He stated the current diverse community partners like 3Rs, a child development center, was helping to teach children to read and Mr. Tyrese Lawrence was working with youth on entrepreneurial endeavors. He stated those were small examples and would be asking business partners to create various employment experiences to match with the youth interests. He stated the youth were interested in it and they would succeed and have a much longer life lasting impression on them. Mr. Tyrese Lawrence, Liberty Oaks community, addressed the Council. He stated he wanted to acknowledge Mr. Brian Kline and his wife who came out to support the Cities United Initiative. He stated they were also working on a project called Planet, an ability to look at all local parks and community amenities and have an instant access to it from a mobile smart phone or piece of technology. He stated that also led toward engaging youth, people of color and any other demographic in the community. He stated Cities United was a huge initiative because it got to the heart of what the city was about, A thriving community inspiring pride where
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 4 opportunities exist for all. He stated when things like that were done, it all came together and could be measured. He stated when the partners collaborated, it was a living example and those were the things that blossomed into a true community. Mr. Smith stated there would be a Cities United meeting on Wednesday, August 26, in the Council Chambers from 1 to 3 p.m. He stated they would be participating in a Cities United national webinar and the group would get into working groups for discussion and actions. 3B6 NWHHSC Executive Director Susan Blood briefed the Council on the Northwest Hennepin Human Services Council programs and activities. 4.0 MOTION GATES, SECOND CREMA TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING ADMINISTRATIVE CONSENT ITEM: 4.1 TO WAIVE THE READING AND ADOPT RESOLUTION #2014 149 TO AUTHORIZE STAFF TO ENTER INTO A ONE YEAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT WITH THE BROOKLYN PARK POLICE FEDERATION FOR 2014. 4.2 TO WAIVE THE READING AND ADOPT RESOLUTION #2014 150 TO AUTHORIZE STAFF TO ENTER INTO A TWO YEAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT WITH THE BROOKLYN PARK POLICE FEDERATION FOR 2015 and 2016. 4.3 TO WAIVE THE READING AND ADOPT RESOLUTION #2014 151 TO AUTHORIZE STAFF TO ENTER INTO A ONE YEAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT WITH THE MINNESOTA TEAMSTERS PUBLIC AND LAW ENFORCEMENT EMPLOYEES UNION (POLICE LICENSED AND NON LICENSED SUPERVISORS) FOR 2014. 4.4 TO RECEIVE AND PLACE ON FILE THE VACATION PETITION FOR WEST RIVER ROAD RIGHT OF WAY ADJACENT TO LOTS 1, 2 AND 3 OF THE RIVERLYN PLAT. 4.4 TO WAIVE THE READING AND ADOPT RESOLUTION #2014 152 ORDERING HEARING FOR THE VACATION OF WEST RIVER ROAD RIGHT OF WAY ADJACENT TO LOTS 1, 2 AND 3 OF THE RIVERLYN PLAT. 4.5 TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE BROOKLYN PARK CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JUNE 2, 2014, AS PRESENTED BY THE CITY CLERK. 4.5 TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE BROOKLYN PARK CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JUNE 16, 2014, AS PRESENTED BY THE CITY CLERK. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 5 Mayor Lunde stated that if there were no objections from the Council, they would change the next two items and went to item 8.1. 8.1 Human Rights Commissioner Hassanen Mohamed briefed the Council on the Supplier Diversity and Business Growth Initiative. Council Member Mata questioned how implementing the program would increase the businesses in the city getting the contracts and if they were not the lower bidder now, how would the program help them. Mr. Mohamed stated the program was not to create rigid goals but soft targets and goals. He stated one idea was to have a list of locally owned businesses, open the bid for that specific group and make sure that the criteria fit the set of goals. Mayor Lunde stated he was curious about what the other suburbs like Bloomington, Maple Grove, and Eden Prairie did. Mr. Mohamed stated other members of the Human Rights Commission from different cities were looking to see how Brooklyn Park responded to the proposal to take back to their cities to use as an example. He believed if the city was progressive and doing it, could put the city on the forefront of cities taking the initiative seriously. Mayor Lunde questioned if the Council could designate someone to do the job of the Contract Compliance Officer (CCO) whose responsibilities could include those requirements rather than hire someone. Mr. Mohamed stated they looked at the job requirements for a Contract Compliance Officer and forwarded the information the City Manager. He stated if he could find an employee to go out on site and do all the requirements needed, didn t see any problem with that but needed to be measured to the work being done in the city. Mayor Lunde questioned the numbers for the different businesses because there might be people in different categories with a staff of one or two who still met the $25,000 contract limit and could not meet the affirmative action goal or needed more employees. Mr. Mohamed stated they had created an ordinance which looked at the good faith effort. He stated that most technological companies fell into those criteria. He introduced HRC Chair Linda Freemon and she talked about her experience as a Supplier Diversity Coordinator that a small company, especially Information Technology of about 2 or 3 people would probably fall under, one of the designations that would be certified to do business with and give opportunities. She stated it could help increase competition and drive costs down.
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 6 She stated if the city was automatically going to the same companies they had done business with, it was her understanding that not all of the small businesses in Brooklyn Park were even invited to the table. She stated if everyone had the same opportunity just to quote on an opportunity, it would make everyone work on their proposals and save the city money. Mayor Lunde stated he was not sure he agrees with the Board of Diversity Compliance and asked if the city had a Compliance Officer, would the board be necessary. Mr. Mohamed said the board would be residents vetted the same way as a Commission member who would sit together and have a discussion on the soft goals that they would like to set for the initiative. Council Member Gates wanted confirmation on the law stating that the city had to take the lowest bidder and how that worked with of the compliance. City Attorney Thompson stated the city was required to take the lowest contracts on bids over $100,000 and that other cities had in law that a certain amount of contracts had to be awarded to women or minority owned businesses. He stated it didn t change the bidding process but there were requirements that had to be met to qualify as a low bidder which was something the city would have to look into. He stated staff was looking at it and if the Council thought they should proceed and he would work with the details based on the direction from the Council. Council Member Gates stated he didn t think Council could add staff for it and didn t see how Council could do a board for it. He stated his issues were on keeping it equal and not run into timely issues of making decisions and losing bidders in the process. He stated that he talked to some people in the industry who said doing it would raise the cost of projects which concerned him. He asked how it helped the economy of Minneapolis when doing it and if they had numbers that showed how it had helped them. He stated the residents had said no to raise taxes and the Council would have to hire staff and it would increase the bids and would become another problem. Mr. Mohamed stated that with the list of preferred vendors, everyone needed to have a plan of affirmative action. If they were verified, then they got on the list. He stated that if an organization needed to be vetted to get on the list, they could go to a different source to do this but the details should be handled by the board regarding policies and required forms. He stated if the Council was saying no, then they needed to come up with alternatives because they had been looking into it for over a year and other alternatives would be more than welcomed. Council Member Mata asked for a clarification if there was a cost to the businesses to get into the program.
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 7 Mr. Mohamed stated there was a cost of $75.00 like the other cities charged. Council Member Mata stated most businesses were saying that they were already over taxed and it was another fee they had to pay to a government entity so they could do business. He thought it was problem because it was not allowing businesses to work and keep their costs down. He stated they were highly taxed and over regulated and could not see it as a good thing for a business. Mr. Mohamed stated that as a business person himself, he wouldn t want to go to a city that charged him if he could go somewhere else and do the work for free. He stated the Board of Director of Compliance could look at those types of issues and figure it out. He gave an example on meeting the criteria, where minority or women owned business didn t have to pay the fee. Council Member Mata stated that would then cut out those who did not fit the criteria. Mr. Mohamed stated that the government put the stipulation on who was and wasn t a minority. He stated the board looked at good faith effort as well and put people through as well. Council Member Jordan stated he didn t think the solution to discrimination was to discriminate against others. He stated that making vendor decisions based on ancestry or gender was not where Council needed to go as a society or city. He stated the other idea was to make vendor decisions based on geography and if it created more competition, would want to open it up to all Brooklyn Park businesses and let them compete. He stated he was also not in favor of adding more layers to government or staff to make it work and would not support a compliance officer or board. He stated the board was not accountable to anyone especially not the voters and he saw potential favoritism taking place. He stated it needed to be more transparent and made easier to those in the city to know what the needs and opportunities were. Council Member Trepanier thought there could be a different approach and Council needed to do something but was not sure what. He stated he didn t know how much more difficult the fee would be but would not want the effort to die and asked the City Manager to be more helpful with it. He stated the Council talked about opportunity and even though a lot of small businesses made it, the amount of discrimination that occurred was significant. He stated he was aware of Council Member Jordan s position and it was different from his. He stated the city was growing and going to be the fourth largest city in Minnesota and the direction that the Council might want to take was to ask the City Manager to weigh in and put some kind of effort together that would go to the budget process to reflect some of the things Council had heard today. Mayor Lunde stated he had heard from several groups that local businesses didn t feel like they had an opportunity for bidding. He stated they would like an opportunity and didn t know they
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 8 could access the information. He stated that hearing the same complaints from different groups including the Business Forward made him think it would be worthwhile looking into. He stated he didn t know if the railroad project would happen or not but if it did, it would be millions of dollars flowing through the city and hoped every business in Brooklyn Park got the opportunity to bid on the different projects that would be associated with it. Mr. Mohamed stated that regarding the job position for the CCO, if Council didn t think it was fulfilling, then they needed to look at other cities and see how they were doing it. He stated that contracts were handed out, got feedback on what they were doing and didn t have someone that went out to follow up and check on it. He stated they would provide accountability for the compliance. Council Member Mata stated it was making it a whole lot more complicated. He stated if staff could find a way to get the information out to the local businesses, like an email list, to notify them and would be giving them a chance without adding more fees or regulations on them. Council Member Crema agreed there needed to be someone to check and verify that the businesses were doing what they were supposed to be doing. He stated if no one was doing it now through the EDA maybe Council should make sure it was being done. Council Member Jordan asked the City Manager if it was something already being done in terms of accountability. City Manager Verbrugge stated that with any sort of a performance based contract in the area of economic development, it required the recipient to demonstrate they had achieved the goals that were established in those contracts and had similar requirements for business subsidy reporting to the State of Minnesota. He stated that evidence needed to be provided and was all handled through the EDA. Council Member Jordan stated he agreed with Council Member Mata to figure out how to communicate the needs and have that information more accessible to businesses but he was not going to support a CCO or board. City Manager Verbrugge stated that in terms of direction for the staff, he hadn t heard a consensus supporting the concept as it had been presented. He stated he heard a desire to do more to involve local businesses in the bidding process. He stated he would take that conversation in terms of the next step and recognizing there was a budget implication in terms of how to move forward with his best recommendation would be to have staff and the Human Rights Commission try to work on it some more. He stated they had a well drafted ordinance already that they could look to and try to figure out how to implement it and how it fit with the feedback he had heard from the Council tonight. He
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 9 stated he would then bring it back for some sort of action along with that and explain how they would administer it. He stated he believed the issue that the Human Rights Commission identified was a real one in terms of barriers to participation and disparities that existed within the community. Mayor Lunde agreed but still wanted to see numbers of results from other suburbs other than Minneapolis or St. Paul because the city did not operate on the same bureaucracy as they did. 7.1 Assistant City Manager Mike Sable briefed the Council on the city s Strategic Planning for 2014 2016. Council Member Trepanier stated he was concerned about an organization that constantly changed its direction. He stated that as he looked at the plan, didn t think that was changing the direction and was solidifying it and made it clearer. He stated he shared with the City Manager some of the language that was not clear enough and some words needed to be changed. Council Member Gates stated the plan solidified everything they were doing. He stated the retreat was great, what the Council could do to continue to improve the city and make it a great city it was and all the hard work being put into it. He stated he liked the plan and it was nice to have goals. City Manager Verbrugge stated that the comments from Council Members Trepanier and Gates should be reaffirming for the Council. He stated Council didn t want a strategic vision for the community to zig and zag and what was in the document was the reflection of their conversations. He stated the Council owned it and was consistent with what the Council that preceded them had said and was a good thing for the community. He stated that it provided continuity, vision and said the Council continued to be on right track. He stated the Council had been working for the last four years on a goals process from different Council Members than the ones sitting today. He stated the document was different than the one from four years ago and had put their own imprint on the direction the city was heading. He stated it continued to do a lot of the things the Council was already doing, tweaked some other things and doing some new things. He stated that as an observer to the process, Council did well in terms of identifying the important issues facing the community and gave staff direction. He stated he was responsible for implementing the plan and thought it was clear in terms of what the Council expected with the measurement, things they thought were important as the strategic objectives and what the responsibility was on staff to move that forward. Mayor Lunde stated to make sure the plan was posted. He stated that developers who looked
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 10 at the city would look at the plan and when they were presenting their development plans to the Council, would remind Council about the plan regarding the development. He stated the session with Mr. Craig Rapp was the best one he s has been a part of and got value out of it. 7.1 MOTION LUNDE, SECOND JORDAN TO ADOPT THE STRATEGIC PLAN. Council Member Trepanier stated he was uncomfortable voting on it tonight because there were some changes that were needed on the clarity. He asked if those changes should be made tonight or when those changes should happen. City Manager Verbrugge stated that the conversation he had with Council Member Trepanier around clarity was very helpful. He stated that regarding putting it out for the community to see, would work with the Communications staff and put it into a form that was presentable for the general public so they understood what it said. He stated there wouldn t be a bullet by bullet detail but more of a higher level of discussion of what each of those strategic objectives meant, the three key ways Council was going to accomplish them and some of the measurements. Council Member Trepanier stated that would be helpful because he wanted to be sure that the words Council wanted to get across would do so and some other information he did not understand what it meant. He stated he would like to see those changes but would vote to approve it if the Council chose to do so because he thought the plan was good. City Manager Verbrugge stated Council could withdraw the motion so he could make some of those changes, add clarity and place it on the consent agenda at a future meeting. 7.1 LUNDE WITHDREW THE MOTION AND SECONDER JORDAN AGREED. 9A COUNCIL MEMBER REPORTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Council Member Crema stated there was a fundraiser on August 1, 2014 for a Brooklyn Park resident, an Edgewood school employee who had Stage 4 cancer and thanked the community for their support so far. Council Member Mata reported on the Brokers Forum. He thanked Amy Baldwin, Community Development, for a report on developments happening in the city. He stated there was a lot of different developments going on in city and many more to come and soon to be more development south of 85 th Avenue. Council Member Trepanier stated he was on the Finance Administration Intergovernmental Relations Committee, part of the National League of Cities, and would be attending a meeting in St. Paul. He stated that the expenses were covered by the League.
BROOKLYN PARK COUNCIL MEETING; JULY 21, 2014 Page 11 Mayor Lunde reported on the Liberian Independence Day celebration on Saturday with many activities in the city and Brooklyn Center. 9B CITY MANAGER REPORTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS City Manager Verbrugge stated the National League of Cities Annual Conference would be held in November in Austin, Texas and budgeted for two Council Members to attend and if interested to contact him. He stated Saturday was the Liberian Independence Day celebration and one of a number of events in the community. On Thursday, July 31, there was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Sunfish Pond at the CAC at noon; Saturday, August 2, Afrifest at Northview Junior High School; and Saturday, August 9, was Igbofest at North Hennepin Community College. He stated there was also the Farmers Market on Wednesday afternoon, activities at Eidem Homestead and the groundbreaking ceremony for Prairie Care was also coming up. ADJOURNMENT With consensus of the Council, Mayor Lunde adjourned the meeting at 9:56 p.m. DEVIN MONTERO, CITY CLERK JEFFREY JONEAL LUNDE, MAYOR