HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEC Agenda Packet_1.25.21CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS
Regular Meeting of the Falcon Heights - Community Engagement Commission
City Hall
2077 West Larpenteur Avenue
AGENDA
January 25, 2021 at 7:00 P.M.
Note: This meeting will be held by web conference.*
A. CALL TO ORDER:
B. ROLL CALL:
Larrabee ___ Cooley-Kistler ___ LaDouceur ___
Ebbesen ___ Dumbacher ___
COUNCIL LIAISON:
Gustafson ___
STAFF PRESENT:
Walter ___
C. PRESENTATION:
D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
1. November 16, 2020
E. DISCUSSION:
1. Officer Elections
2. Community Conversations
3. CEC End of Year Survey
4. City Communications
F. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENTS:
G. ADJOURNMENT:
Next Meeting: March 15, 2021
* To join the Webinar, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82355169009, or dial +1 301 715 8592
and enter the Webinar ID: 823 5516 9009.
CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS
Regular Meeting of the Falcon Heights - Community Engagement Commission
City Hall
2077 West Larpenteur Avenue
MINUTES
November 16, 2020 at 7:00 P.M.
Note: This meeting was held by web conference.
A. CALL TO ORDER: 7:03 p.m.
B. ROLL CALL:
May_X__ Kohn_X__
Larrabee_X__ Cooley-Kistler__X___ LaDouceur__X__
Ebbesen____
COUNCIL LIAISON
Wehyee___
STAFF PRESENT:
Nandkumar_X__ Walter__X__
C. Presentation
1. Dana Healy, CTV North Suburbs Potential Partnership Opportunities
• CTV is rebranding to NineNorth as of January 1, 2021.
• They will be offering new translation and captioning services to accompany
video and streaming services
• NineNorth will be partnering with community organizations to produce content
on various social issues through town hall forums and listening sessions- these
will be called Compass Programs
• They are looking for help from CEC to connect with community organizations to
co-produce content for these programs
D. Approval of Minutes:
• October 19, 2020
Approved, 5-0.
E. DISCUSSION
1. Human Rights Day 2020 event
a. Updates from members
• We have connected with two potential panelists, one that was identified by
Council Member Wehyee and one that was identified by Council Member Leehy.
• One panelist is Mounisha Gorle and has a South Indian background. She lives in
CTC, and is in the US with a visa.
• The other panelist is a man with South African background who does not live in
Falcon Heights but is pastor at a church in Roseville and came to the US as a 5
year old.
• The Commission is open to panelists that may not have full citizenship. Two
panelists was determined to be sufficient. The panelists will be asked to share
about their immigration story for about 5 minutes, and then Dena will ask them
questions to get more details.
• These questions may be from the list of questions included in the agenda packet,
or Dena may think of questions organically. In total, the panel portion will last
about 30 minutes.
• The event will be kept to around 60 minutes total.
• Dena Larrabee will be the MC; Georgiana is an alternate in case of a last minute
emergency.
• Yakasah will work with Dena and do a short introduction to the event
(maximum 5 minutes) that mentions the City’s Welcoming City policy.
• Micaela Schuneman from the International Institute will present for about 20
minutes, followed by our panel and rounded out with an audience Q&A
(~10mins) and closing remarks.
• CTV is set to stream the event on cable as we discussed.
• Ashleigh will try to connect with Green Card Voices to find out whether we can
partner and share any stories before or after the event.
F. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENTS
• 2021 Calendar
• The next event would be Spring Together in June.
• The CEC will meet in January to review goals for the year and elect a
chairperson.
• Staff received an application from a new commission member; she will be
appointed in December and join the commission formally in January.
G. ADJOURNMENT: 7:54 p.m.
Next Meeting: January 25, 2021
ITEM FOR DISCUSSION
City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota __________________________
Item Officer Elections
Description
Following the resignation of the CEC chairperson and vice chairperson in 2020,
the commission will need to elect officers to fill these roles. Officers serve 1-
year terms.
Chairperson
The commission chair acts firstly as a facilitator in meetings of the commission
by ensuring meetings follow the agenda, calling for motions when needed, and
helping to delegate tasks and ensure that all voices are heard. The chairperson
is typically the main contact between the commission and staff and helps set
the agenda for upcoming meetings.
Vice chairperson
The vice chairperson works with the chairperson as an additional facilitator, or
an alternate in cases where the chairperson is unavailable. The vice chairperson
and chairperson are encouraged to work as a team and communicate needs
with staff.
Secretary
Other City Commissions also appoint a secretary who is responsible for taking
meeting minutes and sending them to staff prior to upcoming meetings for
review and to be put on the agenda for approval. Accurate meeting minutes
are important for transparency and ensuring the commission follows through
on discussion items.
Budget Impact NA
Attachment(s) NA
Action(s)
Requested
Nominate and elect members to serve as chairperson, vice chairperson, and
secretary in 2021 (term ends December 2021).
Meeting Date January 25, 2021
Agenda Item E1
Attachment NA
Submitted By Ashleigh Walter,
Administrative & Communications
Coordinator
ITEM FOR DISCUSSION
City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota __________________________
Item Community Conversations
Description
The City recently hosted a 3-part series of community conversations in
December and January focusing on issues such as public safety, inclusion, and
equity. The online events were professionally facilitated by the Mediation
Center in Minneapolis and attended by residents and elected officials.
The City obtained feedback from residents through these conversations and
this information will be useful in helping inform the City’s communication and
inclusion efforts moving forward.
Budget Impact NA
Attachment(s) Notes from Conversations
Action(s)
Requested Debrief and discuss themes from conversations.
Meeting Date January 25, 2021
Agenda Item E2
Attachment Notes from Conversations
Submitted By Ashleigh Walter,
Administrative & Communications
Coordinator
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Falcon Heights Community Conversations II Meeting #1 Thursday, December 3, 2020 6:00 – 7:30 PM Zoom
Meeting Notes
The facilitators welcomed the meeting participants and discussed meeting protocols. The
meetings were designed with the participation of a Falcon Heights planning team which included
City staff, elected officials and members of the Citizens’ Engagement Commission.
Falcon Heights Mayor Randy Gustafson and Councilmember Melanie Leehy welcomed the
participants, provided a brief history of community conversations in Falcon Heights, and
provided an update on what the City has done for its Cultivating a Caring Community Initiative.
Participants broke into small groups to discuss the following questions:
1. Rate the progress the City and Falcon Heights Community have achieved to address
inclusion and public safety since the last community conversations (2017) on a scale of
0 to 5 with “0” being “worthless” and “5” being “perfect.”
2. Now that you have heard the results of the poll, how do you feel about the outcome and
what do you recommend the city and community do together to move forward? Keep in
mind the collaborative work the City and Falcon Heights community has done to
increase inclusion and public safety since 2016.
3. How can the City and residents collaborate to create a stronger and safer community?
Please take into consideration the calls for the movement for reform sparked by the
deaths of Mr. George Floyd and Mr. Philando Castille.
Small group participants reported highlights from their discussions to the full group,
which are recorded below for each question.
1. RATING
• In response to the question rating the City’s progress to address inclusion and public
safety since 201, two groups rated the City a “3” and one group rated “3 – 4” on a scale
of 1 – 5.
• One group noted that the range was between 2 and 4, and their “3” represented an
average.
2. MOVING FORWARD
• A theme from all three groups centered on communication.
o How does Falcon Heights communicate with residents about Cultivating a Caring
Community? Feeling that more could be done.
o Falcon Heights needs to tell the story about what is going on.
2
Community Conversations Meeting #1 – continued.
o Falcon Heights could be a champion of change – be more explicit in our
language, not just caring community but specifically anti-racist.
o Listen to people … more interaction with residents.
o People want more and better communication from the City about their
interactions with the Sheriff.
o Good things were happening, and there needs to be visibility … share these
activities and outcomes so that community members understand that progress
was being made.
o Visibility is important for funding.
3. HOW CITY AND RESIDENTS COLLABORATE
• QUESTIONS: The groups discussed specific projects which are in process and the
community at large wants to know what is happening.
o Desire to understand what the barriers are to have a permanent memorial at the
site where Philando was killed. It is important to understand, provide updates.
(Answer: The memorial effort is still underway and is fundraising right now.)
o Question about the status of the Philando Castille Peace Garden. (Answer: A
committee is continuing to meet. It is ongoing, monthly meetings. It is a slow
process.)
o It was noted that the City cannot be a fundraiser and these projects need
additional funding. The City could invite others to present at events and request
funds.
• STRENGTHS: Participants identified Falcon Heights’ strengths, wanted more of the
same.
o Restoration Day.
o Unity Day.
o More opportunities for residents to mix during events such as free play for kids
on Curtis Field (noted that parents get to mix too).
o Citizens report feeling secure, less harassment on the streets by law
enforcement. Cited an example when the Sheriff’s department diffused a
potential gun violence situation and community members helped establish safety.
• SUGGESTIONS: Participants identified areas for improvement.
o Provide new residents with information is good, and it was commented that the
information is white centric. Suggested to specifically work on anti-racist
language.
o One group discussed the need to work across barriers such as the City being
broken into quadrants (by roads) and renters/homeowners. Would like to see
more communication across barriers.
o Another hurdle which was identified was the need for deeper listening and
understanding many different viewpoints.
o Residents’ might be able to share their skills and ideas, efforts don’t need to be
City led. The City could help, looking for ways to partner.
3
Community Conversations Meeting #1 – continued.
After sharing reports from the small groups, the full group generated ideas to
communicate better.
•Could we put notice for these conversations on NextDoor?
•Dedicated newsletter that goes out periodically.
•Crowdsourcing information.
•How could community members help communicate?
City Council and staff discussed what will happen after this evening’s meeting.
•There are two more meetings (on December 17, 2020 and January 7, 2021), which will
build on this one.
•The ratings tonight were basically a “C” – next meeting could focus on how do we get an
“A”?
•Hopefully COVID will be over and it will be easier to gather, share experiences, tackle
hard questions. I know there is interest … it is frustrating that we cannot gather in the
same place. Zoom is great, and it can be frustrating also.
1
Falcon Heights Community Conversations II Meeting #2 Thursday, December 17, 2020 6:00 – 7:30 PM Zoom Meeting Notes
NOTICE – These notes summarize the second of three in a series of community conversations. The third
meeting will be on January 7, 2021. No final decision has been made about implementation of any of
the ideas discussed during this meeting.
Welcome, Review/Preview and Updates
A Planning Team comprised of City Administrator, Councilmembers and members of the Citizen’s
Engagement Commission planned these conversations. They articulated the purpose:
• Share and reflect on what has been done since the 2018 Task Force
• Acknowledge calls for reform sparked by the deaths of Mr. George Floyd and Mr. Philando
Castile and others & ask how members of the community are doing
• Ask for input for strategic planning to continue the next three years’ inclusion and public safety
work
• Seek partners in the community to take steps together
Review of Conversation #1 on 12/7/2020
• Updates from Mayor Gustafson and Councilmember Leehy on what has been done for inclusion
and public safety.
• Conversation Highlights
• On a scale of 1 – 5, Falcon Heights averaged a “3” on its efforts to address inclusion and
public safety since 2016.
• Theme for what the City could do better was communication.
• Strengths included Restoration Day, Unity Day, Soccer time at Curtiss Field
• Barriers to inclusivity from Meeting #1 included limited mixing between
renters/homeowners, the City being broken up into quadrants
Preview of Conversation #2 Tonight
• Tonight’s two questions build on conversation #1
• How to get a “5”?
• How community members and City could work together on inclusion.
• Survey Results
• Involve residents in inclusion improvements.
• Ideas for communication – town hall meetings, section in newsletter that specifically
highlights initiatives and progress.
Conversation #3 on 1/7/2021
• Public Safety.
FALCON HEIGHTS UPDATES (Mayor Gustafson and Councilmember Leehy)
• Intergenerational Story Time was ready to start and interrupted by COVID-19
• Falcon Heights is working on renaming part of Larpenteur Avenue after Mr. Philando Castille
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Community Conversation #1
• Part A: If the City received a “5” for addressing inclusion since the last community conversation,
what would be different in your community – what outcomes would occur?
• Part B: Share ideas for how you could work together as a community to achieve the outcomes
you desire? Decide on 1 – 3 top ideas to share with the large group.
Outcomes
• Participation of community members increases for City programs
• The City is more connected, community breaks out of silos
• More social events and communal connection occur across the City
• Improved communication
o Community influencers help spread the word about inclusion initiatives
• Community members lead efforts and members of the City Council and City Staff participate
• There are links across stakeholder groups – there is a way to measure the City’s impact
Ideas
• Stakeholder map lets us know who is involved in each of our neighborhoods and communities –
identify different groups (e.g., renters, homeowners). Find ways to reach forward to them.
Make links between groups, share what is being done.
• More people are aware of taking implicit bias tests, having conversations.
• City Hall or “city center” could be designated as a hub apace to hold social events and foster a
sense of community.
• Two national nights out (add one).
• Build a bridge to easily cross Snelling and Larpenteur.
• Identify community influencers to lead (church, school, apartments) and coordinate.
• Incentives to participate – for example, sweepstakes, ice cream, hot dogs, do a drawing of
people who participate on Zoom.
3
Community Conversation #2
The City is interested in ways to support community members who want to take action to increase a
sense of welcoming and inclusivity in Falcon Heights. (Example from Meeting #1 included soccer time at
Curtis Field. Barriers to inclusivity suggested during Meeting #1 included limited mixing between
renters/homeowners, the City being broken up into quadrants)
o Share ideas for how community members and the City could work together. Hopefully this
could result in representation and participation with more members of the Falcon Heights
community. Consider how to overcome barriers through relationship building and
communication.
• Do a major city event as soon as we can safely gather to a community park or school playground
to bring people together. Have influencers “work the crowd” to reach out to people and find
out how to best engage them.
• Structuring programming around cultural events, holidays for various community members to
learn and highlight diversity
• Ask community members to share their expertise and stories with each other
• Create a “pay it forward” system for neighbors to get to know each other
• Highlight community members doing great things in our community – use community
newsletter. Make the information more community friendly – focus on community in addition
to City updates.
• Solar panels and technology – club, sharing how to take care of home together
• Updating the parks (already underway)
• Having on web page how people can share their stories, different events on blocks
• Coordination for the connectedness was a theme
• After we build momentum, create a pay it forward from neighbor to neighbor or block to block
to form systems
• Update community park for social gathering
• Community potlucks and barbeques
• Utilize local businesses more – modernize the buildings and communal spaces
• Recreating a welcome wagon kind of thing (Community Engagement Commission is working on
this, pandemic
• Door knocker/hanger to welcome people, with QR code
• Invite a friend or neighbor to everything you participate in … people are more likely to
participate with a personal invitation
• Do door knocking from mixture of staff, elected officials, public safety, community influencers to
check in with people and advertise a post-COVID event.
1
Falcon Heights Community Conversations III
Meeting #3
Thursday, January 7, 2021
6:00-7:30 PM
Meeting Notes
NOTICE – These notes summarize the third of three in a series of community
conversations. No final decision has been made about implementation of any of the
ideas discussed during this meeting.
Welcome, Review/Preview and Updates
A Planning Team comprised of City Administrator, Councilmembers and members of the Citizen’s Engagement Commission worked on the design of these meetings. Their purpose:
● Share and reflect on what has been done since the 2018 Task Force. ● Acknowledge calls for reform sparked by the deaths of Mr. George Floyd and Mr.
Philando Castile and others & ask how members of the community are doing. ● Ask for input for strategic planning to continue the next three years’ inclusion and public safety work.
● Seek partners in the community to take steps together.
Conversation #1 was on 12/7/2020 and Conversation #2 was on 12/17/2020. ● Meeting notes are available on Falcon Heights’ website https://www.falconheights.org/government/our-inclusion-efforts/community-
conversations/ .
Preview of Conversation #3 Tonight
● Updates from City Administrator, Sack Thongvanh on Public Safety in Falcon Heights
● Tonight’s two questions focused on police services and public safety overall: ○ Rate the city’s police services “0-5” and explain how to achieve a “5”.
○ How is the community feeling about public safety in Falcon Heights and
how can the community work together to enhance safety?
● Desired Outcomes for Meeting 3 – focus on Police Services and Public Safety o Collectively take public actions to create a safer community.
o Community members provide input for policing contract – desired
services.
o Residents contribute to community efforts, work with the City. Update on public safety services in Falcon Heights (Sack Thongvanh, City
Administrator)
● The 2015 Community Conversations discussed policing (and other issues). After the conversations, a task force was formed to review the outcome of the
2
conversations and make recommendations to the Falcon Heights City Council. Some of the recommendations were about public safety.
● Falcon Heights investigated finding a provider for policing services.
● Ramsey County Sherriff’s department was the only one to respond to Request for Information. (Ramsey County Sheriff would provide emergency services if we had no service.)
● Our contract with Ramsey County Sheriff goes until 12/31/2021.
● Sheriff presented to the council in fall of 2020. During that discussion he informed the group that an additional officer for backup was necessary; law enforcement cost would increase $350,000.00.
● The Sheriff told Falcon Heights that the City should look at other options because Falcon Heights is not next to any other cities Ramsey Sheriff covers and it takes a long time for backup to arrive.
● City Council authorized Sack to investigate other options – starting our own force
or finding another community partner. o Starting the City’s own force is very expensive.
o Sack is currently contacting other agencies, U of MN, State Fair, St. Anthony, Roseville and St. Paul. Roseville is not interested.
● Benefit of Ramsey County Sheriff is backup from other communities, sharing of
information and outreach and resources with other communities.
● Fire department – City Council authorized Sack to make modifications to the budget proposal and look at contracting with St. Paul. There is a meeting next
week. Community Conversation #1:
● Rate the City and Falcon Heights’ police services for the past three-year contract
with Ramsey County on a scale of 0 to 5 with "0" being "not valuable at all" and "5" being "very valuable."
● Explain your rating. If your rating was less than a “5”, what would need to occur
to raise your rating?
○ Average rating was “3”, with a high of “4” and low of “1”. ○ There was satisfaction with the Sheriff in the beginning, but the majority
opinion has now gone the other way- to unsatisfactory.
○ Community members want improved communication and transparency from police.
○ Community members want to start implementing recommendations from community conversations in 2017.
○ Increased cost for policing services from Ramsey County is unfavorable.
Community Conversation #2:
● Part A: With events which may decrease a sense of safety going on metro-wide,
how are you feeling in Falcon Heights?
3
● Part B: What can you do personally and collectively to enhance safety in your neighborhoods?
Safety in Falcon Heights
● Community members are taken aback by current events, but generally feel safe in Falcon Heights- acknowledged feeling of safety could be due to privilege of being White.
● What can be done collectively:
o Be a good neighbor – talk with each other.
o Focus on how information is spread when crimes occur- social media/newsletter. o Look out for neighbors.
o Crime map from Ramsey County Sheriff.
Community Feedback on Public Safety Options ● On a scale of 1-4. “1” being “Most favorable” and “4” being “Not favorable at all”
rate each of the three options.
Option 1: Form own police department. ● Average 3.5 ● Cost could be too high.
Option 2: Communicate with surrounding agencies.
● Average 2.1 ● Most likely either Saint Anthony Police or Saint Paul Police. ● Community members prefer Saint Paul due to history with Saint Anthony.
Option 3: Stay with Ramsey County
● Average 3.5 ● Increase in expenses is too high.
Closing & Next Steps (Councilmember Yakasah Wehyee and Citizen’s Engagement Commission Members Julie Ebbesen)
• Thank you to all participants, facilitators, and planners.
• Meeting notes will be posted (summary of this meeting, not a plan).
• Police Services conversation will be ongoing.
• City Council will have a workshop to review progress on last set of recommendations, input from survey and the three recent community
conversations and decide next steps.
ITEM FOR DISCUSSION
City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota __________________________
Item CEC Year End Survey
Description
In December, staff administered a survey to current CEC members to gather
input on programs/events the commission should focus on in 2021, as well as
commissioners’ experience in serving on the CEC.
Main themes of the survey results included:
- Make meetings more effective: More equal participation from all
members, more structure and succinct conversation, better time
management during meetings.
- Of the events that CEC helps organize, Night to Unite and the Ice Cream
Social are the events that CEC members are most excited about
continuing in 2021. Neighborhood Liaisons program had the least
amount of interest in continuing.
- Improving community events to make them more multi-cultural and
better communicated.
- Website needs to be more engaging and useful.
The survey also asked members to identify their personal skills/interests that
they bring to the CEC. The following is a summary:
- Focus on young families
- Connection to school
- Creating engaging content
- Idea generation
- Presentations
- Not shy
- Peace loving
- Community-building
As the City prepares for a gradual reopening in 2021 and begins reimagining
what events will look like during the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic,
the CEC will be called on to help engage the community in the events that
have been done in the past, and make improvements to better suit the needs of
the community in the current and future context.
Meeting Date January 25, 2021
Agenda Item E3
Attachment NA
Submitted By Ashleigh Walter,
Administrative & Communications
Coordinator
Budget Impact N/A
Attachment(s) N/A
Action(s)
Requested
Discuss 2020 events, brainstorm ideas for 2021 events/programs.
ITEM FOR DISCUSSION
City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota __________________________
Item City Communications
Description
The City’s communication strategies include its reach on Social Media, the
Website (redesigned in January, 2020), weekly e-newsletter, and bi-annual
print newsletter. A topic that arose in both the CEC end of year survey as well
as the Community Conversations series was effectiveness of City
communications. On a scale of 1-5, Falcon Heights averaged a ‘3’ on its efforts
to address inclusion and public safety since 2016.
Comments on City communications included the following:
1. Website
• “I think the website could be more useful and more engaging
with users. Right now, it’s a little cumbersome to find
anything.” – CEC end of year survey
2. Communications with residents
• “I see the role [of the CEC] as a bridge between the City Council
and FH Residents.”- CEC end of year survey
• “Section in newsletter that specifically highlights initiatives and
progress”- Community Conversation #2 Notes
• “Community influencers help spread the word about inclusion
initiatives.”- Community Conversation #2 Notes
As the commission responsible for community engagement, the CEC is in a
position to advise staff and Council on ways to improve upon City
communications to engage residents more effectively. Staff would like to
spend a few minutes to discuss the City’s current communication efforts and
specific and realistic items the City can do to improve.
Budget Impact NA
Meeting Date January 25, 2021
Agenda Item E4
Attachment City Code Article VI- Commissions
Submitted By Ashleigh Walter,
Administrative & Communications
Coordinator
Attachment(s) City Code Article VI- Commissions
Action(s)
Requested
Discuss City Communication strategy, ways to improve.
ARTICLE V - FINANCE
Sec. 2-85 - Fees and charges
Fees and charges imposed or required by the city shall be as established by resolution, except as to such fees and charges as are required by state law to be established by ordinance.
Any fee or charge fixed by ordinance as of the adoption date of this Code shall continue in full
force and effect even though not published in this Code until altered by resolution or ordinance as provided in this section.
Secs. 2-86 – 2-113 - Reserved
ARTICLE VI - BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS
Sec. 2-114 - City commissions
(a) The city council has established the following commissions:
(1) Planning commission.
(2) Park and recreation commission.
(3) Environment commission.
(4) Community engagement commission.
(Code 1993, § 2-4.01; Ord. No. 98-02, § 1, 4-8-1998; Ord. No. 07-07, § 1, 4-25-2007; Ord. No. 15-01, § 1, 2-11-2015)
Sec. 2-115 - Duties, membership, terms, officers and meetings
(a) Role of commissions; commissions composition.
(1) The commissions are designed to serve in an advisory capacity to the city council.
(2) The city commissions shall not consist of more than seven members. The majority of members shall be residents of the city, unless otherwise designated in the administrative manual.
(b) Specific duties. Specific duties for each commission are included in the administrative
manual.
(c) Terms, vacancies, oaths.
(1) The term of office of all commission members shall be three years. Except for appointments to fill a vacancy, an appointment in any year shall be deemed effective as of January 1 of such year for purposes of computing the term. No member shall serve
more than two consecutive three-year terms unless otherwise specified in the
administrative manual.
(2) Members shall hold office until their successors are appointed. All members shall serve without compensation, but may be reimbursed for expenses as authorized and approved by the city council.
(d) Removal. Commission members shall be subject to removal with or without cause, by a
four-fifths vote of the city council. Failure to attend meetings regularly shall be one basis for removal.
(e) Chairperson; officers. Each commission shall elect a chairperson from among its appointed members for a term of one year. The commissions may create and fill such other
offices as determined necessary.
(f) Meetings, records, reports. The commissions shall hold scheduled meetings, not less than one per calendar quarter. They shall adopt rules for the transaction of business and shall keep written public records of resolutions, recommendations and findings. On or before February 15 of each year, the commissions shall submit to the council work reports for the
preceding calendar year.
(Code 1993, § 2-4.02; Ord. No. 15-01, § 2, 2-11-2015)
State Law reference – Minnesota Open Meeting Law, Minn. Stats. ch. 13D.
Sec. 2-116 - Reserved
Editor's note – Ord. No. 15-01, § 3, adopted February 11, 2015, repealed § 2-116 in its entirety. Former § 2-116 pertained to "Human rights commission," and was derived from Code 1993, § 2-
4.03.
Sec. 2-117 - Park and recreation commission
The park and recreation commission shall serve in an advisory capacity to the city council on all policy matters relating to public parks and facilities and recreation programs.
(Code 1993, § 2-4.04)
Sec. 2-118 - Planning commission
(a) The commission shall be the city planning agency authorized by Minn. Stats. § 462.354, subd. 1.
(b) The duties of the planning commission are:
(1) To guide future development of land, services, and facilities;
(2) To ensure a safe, pleasant and economical environment for residential, commercial,
and public activities; and
(3) To promote the public health, safety, and general welfare of the community.
(c) These duties are to be carried out by:
(1) Establishing community objectives and policy;
(2) Making recommendations to the council regarding petitions and applications for
rezoning, special use permits, etc.;
(3) Reviewing and making recommendations on all matters relating to or affecting the
physical development of the city.
(Code 1993, § 2-4.05; Ord. No. 98-02, § 3, 4-8-1998)
Sec. 2-119 - Community engagement commission
The community engagement commission shall serve in an advisory capacity to the city council regarding the effective, meaningful and equal involvement of Falcon Heights residents in
their community. The commission will identify opportunities to collaborate with community, educational, business and social services groups and organizations; identify ways to improve the city's public participation, identify under-represented groups, remove any barriers, and engage and promote increased participation for all residents, businesses, community and neighborhood organizations; review and recommend ways to improve the city's communications efforts so as to
facilitate effective two-way communication between the city and all residents, businesses, community and neighborhood organizations; review and recommend ways to help improve resident emergency preparedness and crime prevention programs. The commission shall review complaints of alleged human rights violations occurring within the city and secure equal opportunity for all residents of the city regarding public services, public accommodations,
housing, employment and education.
(Ord. No. 07-07, § 2, 4-25-2007; Ord. No. 15-01, § 4, 2-11-2015)
Editor's note – Ord. No. 15-01, § 4, adopted February 11, 2015, amended § 2-119 to read as set out herein. Previously § 2-119 was titled "Neighborhood commission."
Sec. 2-120 - Environment commission
The environment commission shall serve in an advisory capacity to the city council on all policy matters relating to energy use, air quality, recreation and aesthetic appreciation, green infrastructure, water, solid waste, and environmental education.
(Ord. No. 07-07, § 3, 4-25-2007)
Secs. 2-121 – 2-139. - Reserved
ARTICLE VII - BACKGROUND CHECKS
Sec. 2-140 - Applicants for city employment
Purpose. The purpose and intent of this section is to establish regulations that will allow law enforcement access to Minnesota's computerized criminal history information for specified non-
criminal purposes of city employment background checks.
Criminal history employment background investigations. The St. Anthony Police Department is hereby required, as the exclusive entity within the city, to do a criminal history background investigation on the applicants for all regular part-time or full-time positions in the