HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEC Minutes 08.18.25CITY 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
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
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
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