HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 5.20.24CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS
Community Engagement Commission
City Hall
2077 West Larpenteur Avenue
MINUTES
May, 20 2024 at 6:30 P.M.
A. CALL TO ORDER: 6:31 PM
B. WELCOME:
C. ROLL CALL:
Karen Cooley-Kistler_X_ Julie Ebbesen_X_ Zach Lindstrom_X_ Curt Stockford_X_
Mishy Wang_X_ Rebecca Leighton_X_ Denise King_X_
STAFF PRESENT:
Elke Van der Werff_X_
COUNCIL LIAISON:
Melanie Leehy____
D. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
1. Stockford –
a. Old business - add Spring Together review, Community Liaison Handbook,
review topics from last meeting regarding apartment outreach and CERT
training
b. New business – Add information regarding International Institute need for
resettlement items
2. Cooley Kistler & Knight verify Ice Cream social discussion will be shared meeting
with the Park Commission.
Amended agenda - motion to approve Cooley-Kistler, 2nd Lindstrom
E. PRESENTATION:
1. GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER
a. Van der Werff – accepted to grad school at Hamline for Public Administration
b. Ebbesen – looking forward for May to be over
c. Leighton – soccer tournament last week
d. Lindstrom – graduating!
e. Knight – back from London, job searching & working on garden
f. Wang – Rose town community musical in July at the Como Pavilion
g. Kistler – garden, bike and sail
h. Stockford – meetings, meetings, meetings! Lots of Lions events
F. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
1. April 15, 2024 Community Engagement Commission Meeting Minutes
2. May 6, 2024 Community Engagement Commission & Parks and Rec Commission Joint
Meeting Minutes
Lindstrom motion, Knight 2nd – unanimous approval
G. AGENDA
• Unfinished business
• Spring Together Review
1. Cooley-Kistler – Van der Werff handled the parking situation well to
make room for the food truck
2. Stockford – well attended
3. Van der Werff – sold a little over 200 pieces of ice cream the ticket
distribution was a little more strict than last year. The additional snacks
and Partners in Energy offerings helped. The timing difference may have
helped as well.
4. Group discussion – timing was good, a nice mid-day event that gives a
good end to the event and limits food expectations.
5. Van der Werff – leftover energy kits will be put out at city hall
6. Stockford – The energy table looked very engaged
7. King – saw good engagement with various citizens. Did not see many
people from her neighborhood. Overall it was a very positive event
8. Stockford – many newer residents were in attendance. It will be
interesting to see the feedback on all the questions posed.
9. Wang – the music was hard to hear if you were more than 10 feet away
from the speakers.
1. Knight – sometimes ambient music is better for events like this.
Consider continuing open mic for next year.
2. Stockford – possibly set up seating around the space next year.
3. Van der Werff – maybe promote it better next year.
4. Leighton – there were a few conflicting events – Art-a-Whirl,
Open Doors, and other events
10. Stockford requests that the city staff suggestions/event review notes be
shared with the commissions for consideration for future planning.
11. Wang – reads neighbor discussion feedback
1. Events like this and usually walking
2. Gardening
3. Chatting outside
4. Talking while outside
5. Usually to folks that live close
6. Neighborhood night out
7. Flamingo Fridays
8. Talking while in and out of the building
• Neighborhood Liaison Handbook
a. Stockford – at the last meeting we discussed a workshop – and asked group for
feedback
1. Knight – thought tonight was a working session and not a full agenda.
Suggests possibly moving things around for the handbook.
1. Move what is a liaison to the top
a. Combine What is a liaison and what does a liaison do
2. Followed by CEC Role
3. CEC explanation
4. Leighton supports
2. Lindstrom – suggests updating the order of paragraphs
1. What is a neighborhood liaison?
2. What does a neighborhood liaison do?
3. Goals
4. CEC explanation
5. CEC role
6. Code of Ethics
7. Does it take a lot of work?
8. What kind of information is the city looking for
9. City support
10. Combine points i, ii, and iii into one point with bullet points
3. Knight – add points of contact – who at the city is the individual (role or
person) to talk to and ask questions. Second by Stockford. Leighton
suggests adding the general city e-mail to the document
4. Lindstrom - Strike the second sentence in the first paragraph of the
existing “Does it take a lot of work” point. – Leighton, Knight, and Wang
agree
5. Van der Werff will make revisions and e-mail to commissioners and
provide a deadline for feedback
1. Plans to present the draft to the council pending discussion with
the City Administrator
6. Knight – once the document is finalized it may be of value to host
information session.
7. Stockford – possibly we can use the ice cream social as an opportunity to
engage with community members
• Apartment outreach
a. Clarification on timing – this will be planned to begin in September
b. No more than 2 council members (including Mayor) can attend each event
1. If there are more than 3 in attendance we would need to post the
information on the door of the city hall
2. Knight will develop a script for approaching property managers
1. Would like to start reaching out in June
2. Need council member availability and expectations
c. Stockford – Action item – have the council provide availability dates
d. Ebbesen – Verifying the plan is to connect with apartment property managers to
see if they have events planned that the commission can be included in and
schedule around that.
e. Verify if apartments have community/party rooms available to host, otherwise
we will plan around the weather
• CERT Training
a. Stockford – Leehy has an interest due to her involvement in the program. Do we
feel that this is something we should consider and continue.
b. Knight feels strongly that the program has value and would like the city to
support
c. Stockford – not a city-run program but this does need city support. The city does
not do training but will support it via having a location. The previous iteration
was hosted here. Unsure of training schedule. Need to get information to
understand what the training involves and what is available.
d. Stockford or Van der Werff will reach out to Kris Grangaard for more
information
e. Wang – do we put something out to gauge interest in the training
1. Stockford suggests Ice Cream Social
f. Knight verifies that the root question is if we want to get involved but we need to
get more information
g. Stockford – vote to agree we are interested in gathering more information and
generate a survey to gauge interest
1. Unanimous agreement
h. Next step – Stockford to reach out to Kris. Van der Werff will see what materials
we have in the city about the program. First survey opportunity at the ice cream
social.
• New Business
• International Institute Drive
a. Cooley-Kistler presented information regarding the International Institute's need
for resettlement items
1. Approached Stockford and Van der Werff to see if the City can provide a
drop-off for household items to support the efforts of the International
Institute to collect needed items
2. Stockford feels that it is not the position of the city to be involved in
immigration activities
3. Cooley-Kistler reminds the commission that we have held clothes drives
to support the International Institute in previous years
4. Stockford suggests gathering via personal networks and other groups (Do
Good Roseville, Lions Club Efforts) Lions, Rotary, Kiwanas and
Optimists are all close, can we aggregate those groups to do a big, long-
term drive?
1. Cooley-Kistler asks where the drop-off would be located
2. Stockford does not know but imagines they can find a place. His
point is that long-term this could be a good solution for this
support.
5. Knight agrees that this could be a concern since this is targeting a specific
group which could create friction. Is on board to support Cooley-Kistler
on a personal basis but this initiative is not within the commission's
purview
6. Leighton agrees and asks if Van der Werff could get any official opinion
of the city.
7. Wang – is there a historical precedence for something like this. Sharing
drop-off information vs holding a drop-off.
8. Van der Werff clarifies she has shared other similar drive information and
other service information. Believes that it would be reasonable.
H. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENT
• Van der Werff – plans to cancel August meeting –
a. Group agrees to cancel August meeting
b. June 17th meeting will be held plan to include a final draft of the liaison
handbook and finalizing ice cream social details. Leighton and Wang will be
unable to attend on June 17.
c. July 15th meeting and Ice Cream Social July 18th
d. September 16th meeting
• Stockford – Lions Club fundraiser at Culver's on Rice Street – to support Do Good
Roseville on June 3rd. recurring event with different beneficiaries first Monday of every
other month.
J. ADJOURNMENT: 8:18 PM
Knight moves to adjourn – Unanimously approved
Next Regular Meeting is on Monday, June 17 at 6:30 PM