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Home My WebLink AboutCEC Agenda 10.20.25 PacketCITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Community Engagement Commission City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue AGENDA October 20, 2025 at 6:30 P.M. A. CALL TO ORDER: B. ROLL CALL: Julie Ebbesen____ Denise King____ Sarah Caflisch____ Emily Schmall____ STAFF PRESENT: Elke Johnson___ COUNCIL LIAISON: Melanie Leehy____ C. WELCOME D. APPROVAL OF AGENDA E. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: • August 18, 2025, Community Engagement Commission Meeting Minutes F. AGENDA • Unfinished business 1. Apartment Outreach 2. Human Rights Day • New Business 3. Neighborhood Liaisons G. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENT H. ADJOURNMENT: Next Regular Meeting is on Monday, November 17 at 6:30 PM 1 CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Community Engagement Commission City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue MINUTES August 18, 2025 at 6:30 P.M. A.CALL TO ORDER: 6:39 PM B.ROLL CALL: Julie Ebbesen_X_ Denise King_X_ Sarah Caflisch_X_ STAFF PRESENT: Elke Johnson_X_ COUNCIL LIAISON: Melanie Leehy_X_ C. WELCOME D.APPROVAL OF AGENDA •King requests to add ongoing recruitment to unfinished business •King requests to add Nite to Unite recap to new business o Motion to approve - Caflisch E.APPROVAL OF MINUTES: •June 30, 2025, Community Engagement Commission Meeting Minutes o King would like to correct the spelling of residence to “residents” under F.1.d. o Motion to approve - Caflisch F.AGENDA •Unfinished business 1. Apartment Outreach a.King – continued outreach and was making more calls b.Johnson – the only event coming up is fall fest and possibly the citywide garage sale c.King also suggests a shred event d.Johnson suggests sharing how to sign up for the newsletter e.King asks if we can cross-reference reference newsletter list with the addresses of property managers. Johnson says there are concerns with data privacy to cross-reference those and the information will need to be requested through our website company 2 f. Caflisch asks if we have scheduled any visits with property managers. Commissioners give a history of how we have been working towards that, but have not been able to get firm dates g. King will include a few date options in the next e-mail and communications to the property managers. h. Leehy asks about Larpenteur Manor. Johnson says she may have a good lead on the staff that may be helpful, and will check to see if she can forward the contact information to King. 2. Ongoing Recruitment of Commissioners a. Look at some of the State Fair Task Force people who would like to participate b. Johnsons says there is a resident who applied for the State Fair task force who was not selected for the task force c. King suggests that the chair of the State Fair Task Force announce that there are openings on the CEC, to see if people would be interested d. Caflisch suggests including a profile of a commissioner or something to increase visibility for the commission. The Commission suggests re- running the “blurb” that Commissioner Ebbesen generated a few years ago. e. Flyers at the schools – hanging or in take-home folders f. Johnson can run LinkedIn & Facebook – Caflisch will develop some copy and send to Johnson with a goal of delivery by August 29th. g. Message that there is payment for commissioners • New Business 3. Ice Cream Social Recap a. Caflisch feedback – “Bravo” b. Ebbesen, King, and Caflisch – liked the location of the table c. King is disappointed in the attendance of her neighborhood d. Leehy – 2 neighborhoods we never see people from i. Questwood ii. Townhomes behind City Hall e. Good turnout – Johnson says we handed out approximately 500 ice cream pieces, but some were 2nd and 3rd helpings. Estimating 300 people attended. f. Johnson said the St. Paul Water Wagon was pleased with the event and happy to be in attendance g. Ebbesen – a few people stopped by enthused about State Fair parking and the golf course plan h. Leehy says that the corridor planning had the golf course sale in mind. Commissioner Ebbesen believes that the two things were not necessarily clearly connected since the study in 2024 and the golf course was for sale in 2025. i. Johnson states that there is a website for the golf course now 3 j. Johnson would note that the golf course would be a good community engagement piece once a developer approaches and has a plan for the space. 4. Human Rights Day a. Johnson discusses a food drive believes it would tie in well with Human Rights Day. b. Blood drive could be done at any time. Johnson suggests at City Hall because we don’t make as much use of the space as we could c. Leehy mentions that there has been a challenge with getting folks to attend due to the upcoming holidays. Suggests holding an event the week before “in observance” d. King suggests something for families and also highlights something that the city is doing to affirm the rights in the city’s declaration of rights. Leehy states that the deed and/redlining event had good attendance e. Leehy brings up the food shelf/distributions. She has been in contact with an organization that is looking for volunteers to help with food distribution. f. Leehy – do we highlight food insecurity for Human Rights Day? g. King suggests a presentation here from Thomas Berry to talk to us about what his organization does/needs h. Leehy suggests that we have this (Thomas Berry) organization, Keystone, Every Meal and possibly another resource to present i. Johnson suggests doing a food drive but it will be difficult to host a distribution in the city. j. Caflisch suggests Good Acre who helps new arrival farmers and believes they would be a good resource. k. King – list of possible participants – Keystone, Every Meal, Philando’s Pantry, and Good Acre l. Johnson – next steps schedule and then reach out or reach out to these organizations and schedule m. King – we will talk to Philando’s Pantry on Sept 15 n. Caflisch – will plan to reach out to Keystone, Good Acre, and Roseville Schools o. Leehy will reach out to Thomas Berry from Philando’s Pantry. p. Ebbesen will reach out to Every Meal & Keystone (Keystone is secondary) q. The event will be held on December 2nd or 4th 5. Night to Unite a. Johnson – 14-16 blocks registered, all standard neighborhood blocks, not apartments. Maple Court, Falcon Woods, Northome, and the neighborhoods north of Larpenteur were registered. b. Leehy – knows there are a few places that have the events on different dates, so that may be part of the lack of participation c. Next year, the commission suggests creating a handout for the St. Anthony sign-ups at the ice cream social next year 4 d. King recommends that the commission send a thank-you note to those who participated. e. Message that people can still hold block parties and in the next newsletter or Facebook post. Residents can still register with the city for blockades. G. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENT H. ADJOURNMENT: 8:04 PM • Caflisch motions to adjourn Next Regular Meeting is on Monday, September 15 at 6:30 PM 5 REQUEST FOR ACTION City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota __________________________ Item Human Rights Day Description Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on 10 December. It commemorates the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Because the Community Engagement Commission (CEC) is compromised of the Human Rights Day Commission and Neighborhood Liaison Commission, they have organized a Human Rights Day Event in the past. At its August 18 meeting, the CEC selected food distribution and insecurity as the theme for Human Rights Day. The committee discussed inviting local organizations to provide education on food insecurity and recruiting volunteers to support food distribution efforts. The event is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, December 9. This is an opportunity to continue to discuss the Human Rights Day event. Budget Impact N/A Attachment(s) N/A Action(s) Requested Staff recommends starting discussions for the Human Rights Day Event Meeting Date October 20, 2025 Agenda Item Human Rights Day Attachment N/A Submitted By Elke Johnson Administrative & Communications Coordinator 6 REQUEST FOR ACTION City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota __________________________ Item Commissioner Recruitment Description At its August 18 meeting, the Community Engagement Commission (CEC) started discussions about recruiting commissioners for not only the CEC, but all commissions. Some strategies include: - Including personalized messages in social media posts and the city’s weekly e-newsletter - Create a promotional piece in the Fall Newsletter - Table at City Events - Utilize the city’s email lists to send out e-mail blasts Budget Impact N/A Attachment(s) N/A Action(s) Requested Staff recommends continuing to discuss strategies for commission recruitment Meeting Date October 20, 2025 Agenda Item Commissioner Recruitment Attachment N/A Submitted By Elke Johnson Administrative & Communications Coordinator 7 REQUEST FOR ACTION City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota __________________________ Item Neighborhood Liaisons Description Commissioner and Chair Denise King would like to discuss the neighborhood liaison program and find strategies to get more liaisons involved and connected. It would be a good opportunity for the commission to engage neighbors from different neighborhoods. Attached is the current list of active liaisons, verified this year. Budget Impact N/A Attachment(s) • Neighborhood Liaison List Action(s) Requested Staff recommends discussing how to identify neighborhood liaisons Meeting Date October 20, 2025 Agenda Item Neighborhood Liaisons Attachment N/A Submitted By Elke Johnson Administrative & Communications Coordinator 8