City of Shoreview, MN City Council

Take so. You give us a thumbs up Oh. This meeting shall come to order. Welcome to the city of Shoreview City Council meeting for Monday, MARCH 2nd, 2026. The first thing that we do is ask you to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic to stand, one nation under GOD. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Uh

The next item on our agenda is roll call, and it should show that all council members are present other than um councilmember Springhorn. Uh, the next item on our agenda is approval of tonight s agenda, so I ll look to council to see if anyone has anything that they want to change or remove around the agenda. Second, here we have a motion by Council member Springhorn and a seconded by Councilmember Doan to approve tonight s agenda. All in favor, please say aye. I, all opposed. Um. So the motion passes 4 to 0. With just make a correction in that that it was uh uh council member Merlin, not Springhorn. Oh, I m sorry, you re sitting in his chair. That s funny. Well, thank you for saying that. That s right. I know who you are. Ok. Uh, the next item is, uh, tonight we have, uh, a proclamation and recognition and um this is item 5 on our agenda, and we are happy to have with us tonight the PRESIDENT And ceo of Northeast Youth and Family Services with an update.

So let s welcome Angela Lewis De Mello. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, City council members for having me here. I m excited to share a little bit about what nyfs has been up to. So as you know, our mission is to transform lives by ensuring access to care that nurtures healing, cultivates community, and inspires help. And this is our 50th anniversary. We are so excited to be celebrating 50 years in our community and we have a lot of celebrations planned over the course of the year. We have a leadership luncheon which you received a a postcard too. We have, we re gonna do some celebrations for staff and for clients over the summer, and then we re gonna have a big 50th anniversary party on, uh, NOVEMBER 19th. So you ll receive an invitation to that as well. Um, so we re just really excited to be able to be here and hope to be here for another 50 years or longer.

Our vision, um, nyfs s vision is to see a world where thriving individuals and families are the building blocks of safe, unified communities established through a network of empowered and collaborative partnerships. Uh, just like many organizations, we have a number of values that guide our work. They include equity, inclusion and belonging, authenticity, being genuinely community driven, acting with integrity. Um, the transformative power of relationships being innovative and centering staff and client well-being. So, um, a little bit about our history. We ve been around since 1976, 10 municipalities came together and identified the significant unmet need, particularly for youth and families in our community with a focus on adolescence, and together with the support of the Roseville School District and the Mountainsview School District created Northeast Youth and Family Services, pulled funds to hire a forced 1st 4 staff. We started with two programs, both programs continuing strong today. Um, our youth diversion program, which is now called Youth Pathways and our Mental Health Services, which also included family services, which we continue to do.

We re headquartered in Shoreview on Lexington, and we really are invested in making sure that we provide trauma responsive and culture responsive care. We serve a diverse client base. We serve folks that have a lot of experiences of trauma and adversity, and we want to ensure that our services are effective for serving the folks that come through our doors. The core of our mission is really about ensuring access. We want to reduce barriers to care, cultural barriers, linguistic barriers, financial barriers, logistical barriers, um, and especially ensuring that we re serving folks that don t otherwise have access to mental health services. We have a sliding fee scale. We re really proud of our sliding fee scale. It goes down to $5 per session, which is pretty unheard of. And that is both for individuals that are uninsured, but also for folks that are underinsured. So a lot of folks in our community that have high deductible health plans that mean that they are unable to access mental health services, and so we also have a pathway for them to receive care.

In our domestic and sexual violence services, all of the services are free. Um, so all of the therapy and, um, individual services and advocacy services are no cost. So we have many long-standing partnerships, um, one of Shoreview is one of our founding cities. We work with now 16municipalities, 5 law enforcement agencies, 3 school districts, and then we work closely with the Ramsey County Attorney s Office and Sheriff s department. Um, one of the very exciting things that I really love about Northeast Youth and Family Services as these relationships with municipalities are very meaningful, and our board is primarily comprised of city council members like councilmember Merlin, and we are so grateful to be able to know what s happening in our community on a day to day basis and to be able to ensure that our services are meeting the needs and that we re filling gaps and that is part of the, setup that we have is that we get to hear about those things so rapidly because of the council member input.

Um, and governance. Um, so this is a list of our municipal partners and our school district partners. Um, this last year, one of the exciting things that we did is really define our model of care. So, as you heard me share last time I updated the council, we have been through a refresh refreshing period at nwfas, the rejuvenation period. We really looked at who we were and what we were doing and wanted to ensure that the services that we re providing were the most expert at providing them, that we do so in a way that is based on the best evidence and that our staff are skillfully prepared to serve our community and so uh, through that process, one of the outcomes is developing this model of care across all of our programs, our community and mental health programs. We provide care that is, you know, the foundation of the cars, so this is the nyfsy, um, the foundation of our care is the community, um, and then our services are both trauma responsive and culturally responsive, as I ve shared before when we have asked our clients, um, and most of the clients that we serve are under 26, the majority are under 18, about their experiences of domestic and sexual violence, um, at last count, almost 75% reported direct experiences of sexual or domestic violence.

And so we know that the folks that are coming through our doors have, um, many experiences of trauma that doesn t count in any other forms of trauma. So we want to ensure that we can treat that. There s good treatments that are effective and that we use them. Um, we see people in the context of their environment. We know that what happens in people s families and communities impacts their health. We want to make sure that we re intervening in those ways as well, helping people access services that really provide holistic care that we attend to, you know, we re working with kids from birth all the way through adults in their 90s, and we want to make sure that the care we re providing is attuned to each individual s developmental needs and relationships, and we know that, uh, healing happens in in the research it s over and over again healing happens in the context of relationships.

So we really center that in our work. Um, so I m gonna talk a little bit now about some of our statistics. Last year we served 1,261 clients. Um, we re very proud of this. This is a 40% increase in clients served over prior year, which is phenomenal. Um, as I ve said, we ve really kind of worked to come back from covid and to be serving our community as effectively as we were before. We re now surpassing the number of clients that we had served prior to the pandemic. Um, and we served them in 19,440 appointments. And this number is always the one I m the most proud of, and it means that we re providing depthful care. We re serving people for as long as they need to be served and the number of appointments they need to be served in order to heal from whatever is bringing them to our, our services.

So our community advocacy program, which is the program that works with the law enforcement department served 39 pathways 232. I ll talk about some of our programs, our restoring power program, which is our domestic and sexual violence program that just started in 2024 and its first full year served 352 people, which is astonishing and wonderful, um, not that people need that kind of care, but, um, that we are able to provide it in this region. Um, our school-based therapy, 264 in clinic was 374. Um, this is a breakdown of our client demographics, um a number of our clients don t, uh, about 23% don t report their race on the farms that we share with them. It s their choice, um, but we maintain a pretty diverse uh client caseload, and this is more diverse than um suburban Ramsey County and more in line with, um, downtown. Saint Paul, um, in terms of diversity. Um, you can see age ranges, the majority of folks that we serve are, um, under, uh, 26 years old.

A bulk are teenagers and their families. And then we have a variety of folks, gender identities, um, as they come to us. Um, this is other important statistics around how we re serving our community. So on the left, um, uh graph you can see funding for services where we have diverse funding sources. We receive funding. This is for our mental health services, um, through commercial insurance grants and public and subsidized insurance about um almost 50% of our clients, 47%, um, either are on Medicaid, um, so I mInsure or they are on our sliding fee scale. So about half of our clients, um, are, um you know, wouldn t otherwise not be able to access care if it weren t for those supports. What is really cool is that last year we provided $174,500 of subsidized mental health care to individuals on the siding fee scale and almost $540,000 of care provided at no cost to individuals in the domestic and sexual violence program, Restoring Power.

That s how we know we re meeting our mission This is our funding mix, um, I think what s most important to share here is just that we have a really good diverse funding mix. This is a sign of health for a nonprofit ornization. They re not overly reliant on anyone source of funding. Um, we do receive a lot of our funding, about 3, through third party billing, which is commercial and uh Medicaid insurance. Um, and then we have some government contracts and grants and the municipality support which allows us to do our sliding fee scale. This is our expense breakdown, um, our, it s really most of our expenses are staff salaries and so most of that comes through our largest program, which is our mental health services program. So that renewal process we re kind of through it in many ways in terms of re-establishing nyfs and getting all the way back on our feet and orienting to the future.

Um, with that process has looked like today we now have more than twice as many noifs team members, um, as when I started in JUNE of 2022. We went from 24 to 55, um, staff members. We had about 50 or so prior to the pandemic. We went from serving 603 clients and 11,000 sessions in fiscal year 23 to um oh, that s the wrong number, to 1200 and some, um, in fiscal year 2025. And our budget has, um, almost doubled, so we had uh almost $800,000 deficit on our first, um, the first budget I was with the organization for on a $2002.7 million annual, um, expense budget, and now we re fully funded with a $5.25 million annual budget and then we recently sold the Shoreview building, MAY be aware of this is really important to our financial stability long term Um, we have such a wonderful relationship with the Mountview School, the, uh, school system and they purchased the building they had been renting the main floor, we just kind of swapped to on the building.

We all stayed in the same place and um that has meant that we ve been able to establish a long-term operating reserve. Which provides a stability and then we began an endowment in uh the name of Kate Andrews legacy endowment, um, Kay ran the organization for many years, had been with us since our founding, um, and that allows us to ensure our continued viability. So it s a $1.5 million endowment we ve established with uh the Saint Paul, Minnesota Foundation. So a little bit about our services just a brief refresher, we have clinic-based mental health services. We provide individual couples, family, and group therapy, both in person and telehealth. Most of the clients we see prefer in-person services at nyfs. We serve now birth through the lifespan. So since the last time I updated you, we have launched Early Childhood Services, which is really exciting. I ll talk more about that, but now we serve birth to age 5 in mental health care.

Um, and then we specialize in art therapy, trauma therapy, and play therapy, which is a developmentally appropriate treatment. We also provide care in the schools and we re really proud of our embedded model, the way that works for us is we don t just operate a clinic in a school. We operate as part of the school system. Our goal is to kind of raise all boats through social emotional learning, so we carry a caseload, but we also support teachers. We, uh, provide crisis response, uh, when there are things that are happening on site. We do training for school staff, um, among other things, and so, and if there s a student that isn t on someone s caseload and needs to get immediate care or have a, a crisis session or an assessment, we meet that need immediately. So we re serving elementary, actually, I need to edit that. We now have a contract with Maozu School District to serve two preschools, so we re serving from, uh, early childhood all the way through.

Um, our community service programs, um, we have our youth pathways program. This program has been around since our founding. This is our youth diversion services. Clients are referred due to offenses. They can either have just been identified, for example, by a school resource officers having engaged in uh offense or in illegal behavior or they can be referred through a family member or they can be referred through the justice system. And it s an alternative to the traditional justice system. We, our program is focused on restorative principles. So youth do educational seminars. They MAY write an apology letter. They perform community service, pay restitution, and are really, we re really thinking from a case management lens, what s really going on underneath all of this and how do we help the family get resourced. And we have very, good success rates, typically 95% success uh with completed contracts, which is most of our contracts. Um, so only about a 5% recidivism rate, which is very low, especially for adolescents.

Our community connections program is part of the Youth Pathways program. This program came about because the uh youth in the Pathways program despite having been required to attend their services, didn t want to stop their services and so they came and they said, what, what else can I do here? I want to get some more care. We did some focus groups and they asked to do this program that s really focused on youth development, so helping youth perceive a brighter future. We do some, um, all of it is in community. We have, uh, some of the sessions at the um Shoreview Community Center right next door, um.

They go to uh, college and tour. They do some volunteering at Feed My Starving Children. They learn life skills. They learn about eating and food and sleep and all the things that will help them be successful. Think about life planning and, uh, budgets and all those sorts of things. And this program we re particularly proud of, um, we re also now doing it in the um. Uh, the alternative school in Roseville School District, Fairview, um, alternative School, and this, uh, program we have the highest attendance rate and the highest completion rate of any of our programs. So youth are coming, teenagers are coming and they re voting with their feet. They come, they love it. They come every week. They they graduate. They re not required to attend. And so we re really proud of that because teenagers don t often. Keep showing up for stuff like this. So, and then our last program is our community advocacy program.

This program, um, we have, uh, contracts with 5 local law enforcement agencies, and really the goal is to uh provide care to community members or case management to community members or anything that s outside of the scope of law enforcement. So we re doing anything from neighbor disputes to elderly support to, uh, domestic violence and sexual violence response, mental health, chemical health, housing, I mean, kind of, you name it, um, and, um, and that s been a very successful program. And then our restoring Power program, which, as I shared is a new program that we had starting in 2024. This program is multidisciplinary, so we have a combination of therapists and advocates that are providing services. We do safety planning, emotional support, we help with criminal legal advocacy. We have a contract with the city of White Bear Lake and they re providing their criminal, um, advocacy response and we just started with New Brighton on Monday, um, today, uh, in that program, um, and then we have therapy, both group therapy and individual therapy for these folks and all these services are completely free of cost.

One unique thing about our advocacy program is that we are, uh, providing case management in addition to the legal advocacy, so we re really helping people get whatever resources they need. Um, so as i said, we have new criminal legal advocacy services with White Bear Lake. Um, we, one of the innovative things that we re doing with this program is we re not just taking calls where there s been a charge. We re taking calls where there s any sort of domestic.

And so, um, or, you know, disorderly conduct or any, anytime the police officer has suspicion that there might be some uh family violence happening, then that we receive the referral and, um, for the fields that average contact rate for victim survivors and the immediacy of the aftermath of an event is about 50%, and we ve had a 73% contact rate, which is very, very high, um, so we re very proud of that. We keep calling folks, uh, until we get a hold of them, and that s been very successful and then what is also really exciting is we provide care on that first call, but 64 of the folks that we contact want to receive ongoing care. So receive ongoing care from us at case management, legal advocacy, etc. So um, we re doing lots in terms of court support and engagement in that program. And as, as I shared, we just launched Early Childhood Services, so we re now serving birth through 5.

We ve trained providers and kind of the specialty service of early childhood mental health. Uh, we use a couple models. One is called child parent psychotherapy and other is called Circle of Security, and both are really about reestablishing relationships, the parenting bond between parents and caregivers, especially when the child has experienced or the family has experienced a high degree of stress or trauma. Um, and so we help the family in resilience and recovery, and there s an enormous amount of evidence about how important it is to have these early intervention programs to prevent lifelong mental health and other challenges. And we re also expanding our groups, so we re doing groups in the schools, we re doing groups focused on parents and caregivers. I don t know if you ve heard of the book Anxious Generation, but um we just started up, we created a group curriculum for that book. And so that book is really about how to help caregivers, especially caregivers of preteens and teenagers, navigate the world of technology and the internet, um, etc.

Um, and the impact that has on youth mental health. Um, so that group just started and then we have a variety of different groups for the domestic violence and sexual violence services that we have. And all those are free of charge Um, so finally, kind of what are we headed for, um, one of the things that we re working on is establishing nyfs as a training site and we both want to provide training to professionals in the field kind of generally kind of one off or week-long trainings. Uh, we just created a training, um. Like a proper training room to be able to do that. And then we also, uh, continue to serve as a trading site for a cohort program of mental health professionals to do their internships so they can graduate with their degree. We ve had very high retention from our internship program. Folks come for internships and stay, and then we have our seps program, which is really about ensuring Bipac providers get the supports they need, have mentorship from bipoc therapists, and then also stay in the field.

And that s been very successful. Um, we continue to invest in staff training and development through our clinical ladders program, staff wellness and work sustainability. And the other thing is one of the changes that we ve had is we ended up needing to close our White Bear Lake location, um, this last year, and so we are really looking, the board has decided we re going to be moving to, um, thinking creatively about a geographic model where we have a satellite sites. So we have the main shoreview, um, location, but we want to have just a couple providers and community centers across the 16 cities that we re s er ving so folks can ride their bike or walk down the street, go into a shared space and then see their provider. Um, so we have a little bit more geographic coverage that we have had so far. I ve got. Questions I think, uh, well, I m actually amazed when I read through this information, I, uh, your group has been doing so well in the last couple of years and the recovery from covid, which I know is a very, challenging time, but I was amazed as I read through the literature.

I m actually glad you brought copies so I ll have that, so, so you ve had a lot of successes. Uh, what kind of challenges do you think you ll face in the next uh few years. Are there any areas in particular where either we could be more supportive or you just see challenges for the organization. Um, the nature of, you know, the field of mental health, um, insurance industry, it s extremely challenging to be able to maintain solid revenue because revenue comes in from insurance companies at about 60%, the rate of what is needed to sustain an organization. So we always have a gap, um, in our mental health services, and that s without a sliding fee scale. That s just running a, uh, everybody s pay, you know, their insurance is, paying for their services. And so, and because we re so heavily reliant on Medicaid, um, I would say the major challenges that we re seeing in the industry as a whole, we continue to see attrition from the fields, uh, folks are moving away from community mental health because we see the highest acuity clients with the greatest needs and the least resources, and that burns people out.

Um, it s hard work. Um, we ve got incredibly skilled providers, and we invest a lot in them, but that s always a challenge and then the other challenge of course is that we re looking at um an unstable um funding environment so we re looking at, um, they ve, um, alerted us to about 20% cuts in our domestic and sexual violence programs across, so they re rolling back funding that we had received and then an additional 20% cut across dv and sexual violence agencies across the Twin Cities, so we re seeing greater need and less funding. Um, and that will affect the kinds of services that we can provide. And then, you know, we don t know what s happening with the um the Medicaid funding, but I think that that s another major challenge for us. Um, the final thing I would say is, um, we, um you know, nyfs has been very oriented to trying to ensure that, um, our communities know that we re here, but up until this year, we never had a marketing budget, and that influences how many clients come through our doors and know about us and so we now have a marketing budget and we re, we re kind of moving forward in the ways that we need to to make sure that our communities are aware that we re here, but anything that you can do is spread the word and let people know we have availability.

We have, um, almost no wait times. We also have a psychiat or a nurse practitioner that provides psychiatry. We have testing, um, which is unique, um, for adhd, uh, autism, um, trauma, kind of whatever, uh, folks need for 0 to 18. I just hired a neuropsychologist and so I think spreading the word about our services is definitely a very helpful thing. And then I think the larger, well, I mean, we ll see what happens. We re gonna keep advocating uh for the client access, that s core to our mission, but um, but it is a little unstable right now. Ok. And when you reference the domestic sexual violence programs and the funding for that is that funding at the state level as well as the federal level. Yeah, so the Office of Justice Program s Crime Victim Services funds the majority of domestic and sexual violence services across the state. Some of the funding is state-level funding.

Some of it is passed through federal dollars. Got it. And we re seeing cuts on both, um, bubbles, and so, um, we re, I have a call tomorrow to learn more about exactly what the plan is. Um, we re going to continue to advocate to restore at least, you know. What s been funding for the last 5 years and of course funding for the last 5 years hasn t increased alongside inflation or, uh, staff salaries or benefits or any of those things, but, um, at least then we can stay stable in terms of, uh, the services that we re providing. So it s um very fluid, but we ll advocate where we can.

Yeah, that s concerning because I always think of those areas as having a lot of activity, people don t necessarily report it or, you know, it, it can be generational and then you know, when it becomes part of your culture growing up, for example, and you marry someone, you, it s normal until someone breaks that, um, so that awareness, so that s concerning to me. So, ok, well, it s good for us to know, yep, we re concerned about it too, and, um, and I mean, I think part of why I m as concerned as I am is, I mean, we, we started our program with an awareness that there was a need in this region, and we didn t know how flooded we would be and as quickly as we ve been with folks that need care. So there were a lot of folks that were not receiving the care that they need, and that found us quickly.

I mean, 350 clients in our first year is astonishing. Um, and so that, to me speaks to, I mean, that s probably just a small amount of the, of the need that is out there. So we don t wanna see those services roll back at all, right? And as a result of that, do you then also bring family members in, like children, I m assuming that comes with a proportionate increase in the support trauma support you need in those groups and the services that we have, I mean our groups, we provide, um, trauma therapy to children who witnessed domestic violence, any form of violence that they ve experienced, but we also have a group that we do a couple times a year that has a parenting component and a child component, so children who witnessed or experienced domestic violence and come in and and has a curriculum and it s beautiful and they love coming even though it s hard.

Um, we have a group for adolescents, um, to learn healthy relationship behaviors. Most of those kids were recruiting from kids that have had experiences of trauma and maybe don t know what a healthy relationship looks like and then we have a group for domestic violence victim survivors and sexual violence victim survivors. So those groups are part of this funding, um, and group services are not reimbursed by insurance at a rate that is viable and so most organizations can t do groups despite their profound efficacy. Um, and so we re, we re gonna just do whatever we can to to protect the services that are most unique that we offer. Yeah.

Thank you Other questions Councilor Marvie Gardner, thanks for coming, really appreciate everything you re doing. Uh, my family s benefited from your services and years past, uh, when you re trying to do everything right and you think you re doing everything right, sometimes things outside of your control creep in and you have to. Deal with it, so I appreciate all your supportive work. Uh, I do remember Kate Andrews. She was a force of nature. And it s hard for nonprofits to go beyond the founder sometimes, and it s really great to see how you made the transition and grown. I was also pleased to see that you re uh working with Centennial School District, um, I served in the Minnesota House and represented most of my district was being the centennial district and uh Anoka County cities have not really banded together in the way that they have in Ramsey County. And I m, I m pleased that Centennial is is working with you.

They re just across the line, so um that was it. Somebody asked about uh Medicaid cuts. I think we re all wondering, I, I would just say this is an example where uh we get all sorts of taxpayer benefits elsewhere by investing in people. At. The youth level, um. And I. I don t, the people who need to hear that aren t hearing it, but I ll just say that. Yes, thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Angela for uh being with us and happy 50th anniversary. I look forward to celebrating and. Um, want to, uh, as others have shared, just commend you for the stability that you ve brought and the leadership that you ve brought to the organization. Um went through a lot of tough times to get uh to a more stable place, wanted to, uh, first ask a question and then also uh share something that I think that on the grant side separate from the community side or from the city side of kind of how do you get your grants, um, but the, question I had is related to where do you see the biggest need?

Uh that is not being served, uh, whether it s in age population or in specific um trauma that you re seeing, perhaps it s even from Operation Metrosurge that we ve all experienced over the last 8+ weeks. Uh, can you help us to understand kind of what are the biggest needs that you re seeing right now that are maybe not being addressed and how, can others be helping to address that? Yeah, I mean, it s all connected, right? People s safety, their stability, their housing, their food access. Um, and so if, and their ability to access mental health care is tied to their ability to have housing and to be able to access food. And so we re seeing just generally a theme of a lot of instability across our clients. Um, people s mental health symptoms have become much more acute, even if they have been more protected from Operation Metrosurge for one reason or another, um, there s still, uh, a general increase in symptoms that we re seeing.

We re seeing a, a clients being less consistent and receiving services. Some of that is fear of receiving care, some of that is, um, that they re so destabilized, it s hard to get into services, um. So I would say the effects have been kind of monumental and widespread. It s hard to identify a specific population that I would say is, um, experiencing greater effects beyond immigrant communities that were, that we re working with that are too afraid to leave their homes and, um, and, you know, luckily we have telehealth services and that s been really helpful for making sure people have continuity of care. Um, we started a food pantry on site in partnership with the White Bear Lake food shelf that has been really critical for helping people get enough, I mean, even just a bridge so that they can get to a food shelf cause a lot of folks that have not needed food shelves before or suddenly, uh, needing that, um, kind of support, um, the housing I think has, has been on a lot of folks minds right now because of, um, Marchrent coming to it and a lot of folks that weren t able to work through the end of JANUARY and FEBRUARY.

Um, so I would just say kind of two things. One, we re just seeing heightened acuity across the board and greater barriers to accessing services, those logistical barriers. Other thing that I would say um, is that we re anticipating recovery from this. I mean, I talked to other executive leaders in the mental health field, and I was having a conversation. I was like, it s gonna take at least a couple years for all of us to get back from this, and everybody was like, Angie, 5 years at least, like they re the the the kind of uh just the healing emotional, psychological healing and recovery time is gonna be, um, I was maybe a little optimistic, um, gonna be long standing and so at nyfs we re so focused on wanting to make sure that we re respo n s ive to, to the needs and part of the conversations we re having now are what kinds of groups do we want to offer, what kinds of additional supports do we need?

You know, we ve tried to wrap around the families that we re working with, but what else is, what else is, uh, gonna need to be there, not just for the acute period, but for that recovery period, and we expect there s going to be a lot, so, um, and, you know, I keep saying this is what we re made for nyfs, you know, was founded on a mission of ensuring access to care for a lot of folks that are gonna have care access um, removed and or already have, um, and so, you know, how do we, how do we adapt to fill whatever needs we can. Yeah, Councilor, could I just, uh, follow up as well. Um, so separate from my role in city council, I also serve on the board for the Shoreview Community Foundation and I know that uh the foundation has provided funding in the past for nyfs. Was wondering from the philanthropic community, um.

We, what does that landscape look like these days for mental health and for the services that you provide. And uh again, this is, well, this one is separate from the city, but are there things that the Shorebye Community Foundation can be partnering with nyfs on. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that we ve seen is just really every major foundation that we ve worked with, um, consistently has been changing their funding mechanisms, the funding requirements, the process, who s reviewing applications and so there s just a general lack of stability in terms of, um, grant funding and even contract funding through the state. All those processes have also been changing, and it s an important thing. The timing is not great in terms of other ways that we re all destabilized. And so, um, I think, you know, the, the things that are the most important always are from the foundations for us is as much transparency as possible, as much honesty as possible around, you know, it s hard to put a lot of financial resources to continue to apply for grants and then to not receive them and not have the foundation just say you re never going to be eligible.

Let it go, which is fine, but it s important to be told that. Um, we ve always had a great experience with the Shoreview Foundation, but I think the larger landscape is that there s been a lot of change and an area that I ve always felt very confident about my work in an nyfs is working now we don t know with each funder what the changes are gonna be and what they mean for our. Uh sustainability And so I don t know that there s anything specific besides, um, I think as much transparency as possible and as you know bridge funding or those sorts of things that can help people make sort of slower changes so we can acclimate um to expectations, adjustments, or, you know, one of our major funders just announced that they re not doing health anymore as a focus area. Um, this is not uncommon. A lot of organizations are moving away from mental health.

I had a meeting with another foundation recently. And they said that they had a series of discussions about the fact that they just don t they think mental health is kind of futile in terms of an investment, and maybe their money can go somewhere else. And so those are the kinds of things that we re navigating and the funding environment right now, um, and a lot of times when economies start to, this happened in like 2008, 2009, when economies shift a lot of money goes towards shifts from mental health services and even domestic and sexual violence services to housing and food support. Which are really important, but then leave people unsafe. Um, and, but housed. And so we need to find ways of navigating, uh, maintaining support across the spectrum of care. Yeah. I m curious about the, the comment about the futility of investing in, in mental health. Uh, could you, I, and this is a curiosity question.

Do you have any more context around that, uh, it s it like corporate donors that expect some kind of a foundation. Ok, and I think that there s, there s a couple of things. The insurance industry structure for mental health services is, is extremely broken. Um, we can provide the service and there is a 60% chance we ll get paid on the service that we ve actually provided. The rates are way less than what it actually takes to provide care. Um, that foundation in the end decided that they were gonna focus on youth mental health and early childhood mental health services because they felt like that was getting adequ ate ly upstream. Um, part of, part of what they were seeing was futile as both, like some of the major foundations that we re used to receiving funding from or moving away from funding any health services and mental health services because they see it as the role of Medicaid, um, and, um, insurance to be able to cover those costs and so if there s an alternate pathway for payment.

They don t wanna provide any sort of additional support despite the gaps, um, so that s one of the shifts that we ve been seeing. And then I would say that the other sort of shift is um what is the quantifiable impact and that s hard in mental health, and we have a lot of measures. We do a ton of program evaluation to ensure that the treatment that we re providing is effective and the outcomes that we re saying, but that s not true across the sector, um, and so, You know, a lot of foundations are really moving to, um, to wanting to be able to show quantifiable impact, and it s easier to show impact, uh, for a number of people housed or for number of pounds of groceries than it necessarily is on reduction in mental health symptoms. And so, despite the, the necessity of it, I think it s a, a less powerful.

Funding argument sometimes, um, to, to show. And I mean, I think all of us know there s a clear impact, but that it s less quantifiable. Thank you. We can t fast forward till they re 26 and ask them how it went when they were 7. Torino. I would just like to say I ve, I ve really enjoyed um serving on the board, and I appreciate um all your leadership and your direction for the um for the organization, um, I ve um been aware and, and done many things with nyfs over the years and the transformation is just um undeniably um fantastic. So I appreciate everything that you do appreciate your leadership. All right. There are no other questions. Thank you so much

For coming. Yeah, thank you. Good The rest of the meeting is equally as fun. Maybe not as inspiring, but for sure. Ok. So the next item is uh public comments, formerly known as Citizen comments, and we, um, don t have anyone in the audience here physically today, so. I, we don t have any of those, so now we ll move to um council comments and I ll look to Council member Merland to see if you have any announcements. Sure, I just have a couple kind of fun things that are coming up, um, to be aware of, um, through the parks and recs division. Um, there is a bunny hop trail coming up on uh Saturday, MARCH 28th. Um, you can register online on the cost is very minimal. It s $15 per child and um that s at Buker Park this year. And then, um, bamboo Bay is having an egg hunt on Sunday, MARCH 29th, so the day after the bunny hop, um, and again that is um minimal cost, you can, uh, uh, register online for that.

And then on Sunday, APRIL 26th is um Spring Fest from 2 to 5 P. M., so, um, uh, what it says here, it s a a celebration of Earth Day, and it will include um parking lot style garage sale, community groups, music, food trucks, kids activities, and more. It ll be located um at the um pavilion in the lower level parking lot of the community center, so hopefully we won t have um any last minute snow blizzards coming at that time, but um looking forward to some spring activities for sure. Thank you. Um I ll just go in physical order tonight. Um, I noticed in our weekly report that we had approved some uh new equipment for public works, if you all remember, to identify water leaks, uh, rather than having to contact someone else in that event, so, and we actually put that into you, into you. So I think it was a good investment.

It saves the city a lot of time, but just wanted to note that Um, also of note is the Human Rights Commission, uh, is putting out a webinar on MARCH 4th of Yazum. You can find information about that on the city website, and it s um knowing your rights information, um regarding ice interactions, and it s put on by the Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services. So anyone can attend that, and if you go out to the city website, it s easily locatable, um, and you can, I don t even think you need to register for that. You can just attend, but the information is there. So again, that s on MARCH 4th, and it s via Zoom, um and then I also wanted to mention that um the environmental Quality Committee s speaker series continues this month, um, and this one is on pfas, so it should be a good session on MARCH 23rd at 7:00 P.

M. Right here in council chambers, so you can learn about the progress, um, having been made over the last couple years around um. The cleanup of that, um. And what s going on uh regarding that. So some background. Around pfas pollution and then um the other thing I wanted to mention before passing it on is that we will have an indoor farmers market again on MARCH 17th, and that s right in the community center upper level so there are a lot of great vendors there, so if you can take advantage of that, and that s in um the afternoon. Oh wait, I m sorry, is that from 44 to 63 to 63 to 6. All right. Thank you, and I ll pass it on now to Councilmember Doan. Yes, thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to, uh, recognize that this time of year is significant for many faith traditions, um, and that uh I recently was invited to attend an an iftar event.

Uh, in, uh, for Ramadan, uh, this past Saturday that was hosted by the Amadiya, uh, Muslim community in Coon Rapids. And uh for those who um MAY be new to the celebration of Iftar. Uh, it was my first time attending, so I learned that uh Iftar is the breaking of the fast at dusk, and it s uh uh particularly uh the high holy month of Ramadan is focused on uh purification and renewal and really emphasizes charity and giving and building community. So I really think that that is very appropriate and especially uh as I am a Christian and a Catholic, uh, celebrating, uh, the Lenten season. It also has very similar traditions and themes, uh, and then also recognizing that in the Jewish faith, Passover is coming up and so I think that there is uh I think a real need for that charity and community building. Uh, in our region and in our country and hope that we all take this time of reflection.

To think about what s important and how we can better support and uh and love each other in this world, um, with that, uh, I also wanted to share that on uh MARCH 14th is a special day for the geeks in the audience, uh, myself included as an engineer, it is Pi Day. So it s the 3.14 for those who MAY not uh be familiar with the uh the uh pie, uh, kind of, uh, the numeric. Significance of the number or of the pie concept and that uh just ask everybody to celebrate, uh, in their own way, whether it s having a slice of pie or having a pizza pie, uh, that, uh, it s a fun way to celebrate, uh, the sciences and engineering. Thank you, Mayor. Don t be square. That, no, that, that day goes on forever too. That s right. And pie does involve a square in it. Thank you, Councilor.

Actually, I have a grandson and his birthday is on id, so we always celebrate and he gets, he wants cake, but he gets pie, so. But we, so we celebrate that every year, so. Just reminding my my son s birthday is on the 21st, and he s the engineer in the family. Uh, well, um, uh, here in Shoreview, uh, we have had curbside collection of mattresses through Second Chance recycling. It was on demand. I don t think we re doing anything right at the moment. But the same organization is working with Ramsey County Environmental Center in Roseville. So between MARCH 3rd and APRIL 30th. Only, um, that Roseville location will offer free drop off for unwanted household mattresses and box springs, um. These will be uh recycled by a Second chance recycling in Minneapolis, metal bed frames will also be accepted and reused or recycled. Uh, but you do need to register for a drop off date in and time in advance so staff can plan accordingly.

It s rather unwieldy, so they want to get them all at the same time and get him on the truck. Uh, let s see, I also wanted to mention today is the first day for um pre-orders for the Sherry Tree sale. I got a North Pole Arborviti and two honeysuckles shrubs as they try to screen my backyard from the townhouse development behind me. Uh, it s a great way to um uh, help our tree canopy, which has been depleted by the Amer Ashbor and then um last for another month or so, I ll be chairing the uh recycling association of Minnesota Board. And every year they offer truckload sales of rain barrels and compost bins. Backward compost bins, um, and, um uh, that went live for the pre-order over the weekend. So Ramsey County is one of the partners, so at the same environmental center, you can actually put in a coding at $20 off.

Uh if you re a Ramsey County resident for the compost bin, uh, so that s at RecycleMinnesota. Org. Uh, and that s it Thank you. So I ve always thought about composting if not taken the leap yet, mostly because I border an open space and they re all already so many creatures, and I ve looked at those, but it seems to be a fairly simple process at a very um confined or secure space. Yeah, um, there s lots of ways just to, um, uh, to compost, um, but the around here and I m close to you, so we have critters to, uh, the,, model that we offer is, uh, there are two halves that clip together and then there s a locking lid, so we don t have any critters getting into it, but uh uh uh having a green and brown layers of stuff helps break it down really quickly, but we re supposedly getting curbside food waste collection also later this year, so you ll have options.

Right, right. Ok. All right, well, thanks. All right Um, so she, she left, wasn t exciting enough. Um the next item on our agenda is the consent agenda, and these are considered to be routine items that we can pass in one motion, and I believe tonight we have 10 of them. So we won t have a separate discussion unless someone on the council wants to remove an item for discussion. So I ll look to the council and see if anyone does have an item they want to pull and discuss, otherwise I ll look for a motion to approve. Mayor I d like to make a motion to approve consent agenda items 8a through 8j. We have a motion by Council member Doan and a second by Council member Mirland to approve the 10 items on tonight s consent agenda. All in favor, please say aye. I, ll oppose same sign. The, um, consent agenda is approved 4 to 0.

We do not have any public hearings tonight. So then we move into general business, um, and the first item is 10a ordinance 1060, which is amending chapter 30 of the Municipal code related to closure of a rental license and posting of unlicensed uh or unlicensed properties. So we have Nikki Hill from our community development. Department to present tonight. Thank you, Mayor, members of the council We are here to adopt ordinance 1060, and we are looking to do an update to our rental licensing regulations and to start why the update, the rental license program is critical to the overall city goals to maintain the quality in neighborhoods and well maintained and safe housing in the community and staff in the city attorney have provided recommendations to codify the city s policy as it relates to the closure of rental licenses and updating language to include provisions that allow the city to post a placard on the main entrance of unlicensed properties.

So to date, the city s policy for the proper closure of a rental license has been for the owner to submit a signed affidavit signifying that they had sold, moved into, or have since terminated the use of their property as a rental. However, it was never codified that the affidavit was required. So when a property owner inquired during this renewal period, um, they could not, where they could find that justification for needing to submit the document, the city did not actually have it in our code that it was required. And so we are here to update that portion of it because the affidavit is a helpful document to ensure that the city has assigned proof from the owner that the license should be closed and that there s no longer tenants in the property. And then the other portion is the posting of unlicensed rental properties. And it s also a policy that the city has had previously and after attempting to notify the owner um, using multiple letters sent to the tax address on file, staff would utilize the revocation procedure to allow posting of the property as it was operating without a license.

Since the properties are already operating without a license, it became a little nebulous to revoke a license that they didn t have. So by codifying the process it would allow staff to post the property without going through council action for swifter compliance. And it also updates the language to allow for clearer punishments for individuals who tamper with or remove the placards once they have been posted on the property. The eda did review this at uh FEBRUARY meeting, I believe, and support the establishment of the proposed regulations. So staff recommends that the city council adopt ordinance 1060, approving and amending Chapter 36 of the Code related to the closure of a rental license and posting of unlicensed properties. And also included in the motion as a summary of Ordinance 1060 for publication. Do you have questions On what questions? Council member Gardner, just a quick question.

Thank you. It looks in order from what I can tell. Um, are we making this change because some case came up where we went, oh, we need to fix this, or do we just sort of regularly go through ordinances once in a while and review. To make sure all of our t s are crossed and our I s are dotted. One is a little bit of both because for the affidavit portion, that wasn t specifically in the code. And so to require that without it being in the code. Was something that we didn t have that legal backing. And so by fixing that, thanks to that property owner who pointed it out, that does button up the code there. But then in response to the renting without a license when you re already unlicensed, there wasn t a clear process. And so it wasn t a particular case that brought it, but it was more staff realizing that we could do better as far as trying to find a way to make it.

Um more helpful for staff but also a better response for the tenants who there s there s, it s not a licensed property. It hasn t had the proper health safety checks, and so we just want to make sure that we re responding in a timely manner Other questions So, and with an unlicensed property the tenant does not have to pay. Do they have to pay rent still? Is there, so the placard, they do not have to pay rent of the placard will generally tell them that. You know, they, it is unlicensed. Generally you should escrow it because that s not saying that right, you won t have to pay it at some point, but seeing that it s not licensed at the time. Brent is not due. So nothing changes in terms of the ren renter s experience with the placard versus affidavit. Well, the affidavit would be for a property that s no longer being rented because the owner sold the property, ok, but for, uh, the, the experience is more for the awareness of the attend because without that placard, they might not know that the property doesn t have a rental license and they won t know that it s not meeting our regulations.

Right. Ok. All right. So any other questions? If not, I ll look for a motion. A mayor, I d like to make a motion to adopt ordinance Number 1060 and the ordinance summary for publication amending Chapter 30 of the municipal code relating to rental licensing. Second, ok We have a motion by Councilor Beermi Lien a seconded by Councilmember Doan to adopt ordinance number 1060, um, and the amendment of Chapter 30 of the missal Code. All in favor, please say aye, all opposed, same sign. Motion passes 4 to 0. Thank you The next item that we ve got on our agenda is approving uh cannabis retail registration for Urban leaf and presenting as our assistant city manager, Renee Isobbi. Yes, thank you, Mayor and City council. Tonight, you re being asked to approve our third cannabis retail registration. Uh, just some background, the city council adopted regulations for cannabis retailers and events in DECEMBER 2024 to align with state legislation in chapter 10, Cannabis Businesses requires all cannabis retailers to register with the city.

And it sets a limit on the number of cannabis retailers we have within the city, um, rap is no more than 3 registrations, which is the minimum required per state law. And it s issued on the first come first served basis. So the study has approved two registrations as of JULY 2025, and we received our 3rd application for approval tonight. And if approved, the city will not have any available registrations. Uh, we received an application from Urban Leaf Dispensary. They received their preliminary approval from the Office of Cannabis Management for cannabis retailer license, and in order to receive this preliminary license for or approval from ocm that requires a background check. Um that s conducted in all jurisdictions where the applicant has lived in or worked for the past 7 years. So that can include a countywide search, a state search, and then a federal search. Uh, so urban urban leaf has submitted that to ocm and passed their background check.

Um, they are located at 5910 Lexington Avenue North, which is in the c1 district that allows for retail operations. And they have submitted all their necessary information and as well as fees to the city. We re waiting on certificate of liability insurance and work comp insurance, but that s typical for when a business is still building out there, um. Business, so they ll have to do some construction work within the building itself. So with that staff is recommending that the city council approve a cannabis retail registration for urban leaf dispensary with uh two contingencies. One is final approval from the Office of Cannabis Management, and then the second is the certificate of liability insurance and workers comp insurance. And the registration would expire at the end of the year of issuance. Um, so we will not issue the city registration until we receive that final approval from the Office of Cannabis Management as well as these two certificates of insurance.

Um, so they they ll probably have some construction to do, as I said, and then go through the process with ocm in order to get that final approval. And with that, I ll take any questions. Um, I did have one question, so you, you said that. With these two contingencies, once we have that, then do we submit that back to the Office of Cannabis Management. Um, I know they ve done their final approval, but once we do that, the business is set to go, or is there another step? Yep. So once they get their final approval from the Office of Cannabis Management. They ll let us know and then we ll issue our registration, and then they are set to open. Got it. Ok. What other questions? Council member Gardner Uh, thank you. I think we re all learning as we go here on cannabis management, um. And I m glad to see there s a state agency that s vetting here, but um, you know, I m thinking of the Burger King, it was damaged by fire on Rice Street, where there was an out of state owner from California, and people can get a hold of them and everything s fine, I guess, cause it ll be Chipotle now, but.

I m just wondering if we could get out our whiteboard here and and draw lines among all these entities because we ve got and it MAY have absolutely no bearing on the city s decision here, but. Got a Saint Paul address, we ve got people with different names and domain names and email names and corporation names and I it I can t tell who s who, if we have an issue with this property, do we know? Who we re talking to? Yep, so our main point of contact has been the applicant, uh, Joseph Abramoff. Um, they ve been very responsive, and we will, once they are ready to open, we will require a background check for the store manager as well, so we ll have a contact that way. Um, as well. And then, um, the other names on the application were the property owner we we require that information and they re, um, they also provided contact for the leasing agency.

And then uh MR. Abramoff is the owner of Urban Leaf and the Two Enterprises. Ozzie Britt then? Uh, that is the property owner contact. Ok. So the property owner of 5910 Lexington Avenue North. Ok. So are you I have a piggyback to your question. No, no, go right ahead. I m just whose address is the po box? Is that uh is Joseph Abramoff, that s the property owners address. Ok. It s the po box. Uh, MR. Abramoff is not local. Ok. And that s why the ocm requires that, um. County, state, federal. Background check. Ok. And then, so Ozyrit will be uh the owner of the they are so they re a leasing agent with the property owner, it s owned by, I believe, one groups that it s a little strip mall building that has multiple multi multiple tenants in it, um, so Ozie Britt is the contact that MR. Abramoff is working with.

And then that John Bingham that s the contact. Ok. I, it is a it s part of the property owner. It s some branding would be in order, but. However, I should mention too though that you did. Uh do some exploration about the background checks on these and that the Office of Cannabis Management does a very thorough. Right. Multiyear background checks, so, and we ll start, yup, they require a background check that s going back 7 years, um, do every jurisdiction that the applicant has lived in or worked in, and moving forward, we will start to require a copy of that background check with our application as well. That would be great, so. You d make sure that the email address that that person was checked in, ok. As we all are learning. So, and thanks for pointing out again that, that we had, uh we are required to have 3 licenses, and this is the 3 of those and there MAY be other retailers that are selling lower, um.

Like I was wanna say dose, but lower amount, lower edible. Contact products a license it s called a secondary retailer license that can go to liquor stores, grocery stores, um, vendors that are primarily uh selling other products in addition to lower potency hemp edibles, uh, so those businesses we don t have a cap on those, um, and we ve issued I want to say 3 of those this year. Thank you. Other questions, just to recap, can you tell us and anyone listening where now the three businesses will be assuming this proceeds. Uh, for the cannabis retail registration, uh, so this tonight is at 5910 Lexington Avenue North, that s at the corner of Lexington Avenue and Hamlin Avenue. Uh, we have issued one of our registrations to vibes, which is off of Lexington and County Road e. It s next to Evino veritas. Um, and then the third one is, hasn t been gotten their final approval from ocm yet.

They were, they have preliminary approval from us though from JULY, they are located in the Rice Creek Parkway near like Red Ginger. Uh, they are currently under construction, so once they get that and run through the necessary steps with ocm. So they re spread out. I have a, a general question if I MAY. So we talk about, um, background checks, but I remember when they were, um, uh, when they approved legalizing marijuana in the state of Minnesota. They had talked about giving priority to um uh several, um, different classes including um veterans, and one of the um one of the things that they were going to give priority approval to were people that had been. Convicted of a felony for. Um, perhaps, uh cannabis selling cannabis, um, that type of thing. I m not really sure all of the um the rules on that. So when we talk about a background check, does that show us, um, if they were an offender, um.

For that type of illegal activity before it became legal. Um, I don t know if it would show. If they were an offender before they before it became legal. I would have to check, but for instance, the one that we re so I did receive a copy of the background check that Urban Leaf had submitted as part of their ocm and in it, it says um under each county, state, and federal search, it says no records found. Um, so when we ve worked with, uh, Ramsey County Sheriff s Office for background checks, they will typically tell us what if they find any records and what that s for then for us to um. Work with our city attorney on determining if we can or cannot. Show you a license Thank you. So it s kind of like whether a background check might be one they do for people working Just, I was just curious if that information was expunged or or something else.

I mean, if it would show on there, if we would know. Something that we need to be aware of. Right. I would assume it would show up on their criminal record if they were convicted. Yeah, I don t know off the top of my head. Thank you Sorry, I have another question. Oh, that s right. Uh, are these businesses still cash? Uh, from that, I don t know off the top of my head. Just some of the original um legal weed businesses around the country could not use the banking system or they had to use cash and I know they do have enticing, that s all. They do have requirements in terms of security. Uh, measures that dispensaries have to implement.

Um, so I don t imagine they re dealing with large amounts of cash based on that. It s my understanding that um you still can t use a visa or debit card, um, and most banks um can t. They re not bankable, so. So we still need cash Well, and I wonder if that varies by state. Yeah, I hadn t heard that. Ok. All right. Uh Uh, Mayor, I d be happy to make a motion. Uh, Mayor, I, uh, moved to, uh, prove a cannabis retail registration for Urban Leaf dispensary, 5910 Lexington Avenue, North Shoreview. With the following contingencies, final approval from the Office of Cannabis Management. And certificate of liability insurance and workers compensation insurance. Do we have a second How 2? Ok We have motion by COUNCILMAN Gardner and a second by Council member Mirland to approve our third cannabis, or 3rd license, cannabis retail registration for Urban leaf Dispensary, all in favor, please say aye. Aye, i ll oppose same sign. Motion passes 4 to 0. Um, so we have one last item of general business, and that is 10c appointment of a student representative to the Bikeway and Trails Committee and I ll look, ok, I

M looking into our, uh, city manager, uh, Brad Martins and Hillshire. Thanks, Mary Conseil, last of them tonight is an appointment to the bikeway and Trails Committee as he referenced staff is recommending the city council consider the appointment of Benjamin Handelsman, a junior at Mollinsview High School as a student representative of the Bikeway and Trails Committee. The student representative position has been vacant since JULY of 2024 and was advertised as open an application was received in NOVEMBER from Benjamin, and the committee did evaluate his application at their DECEMBER meeting. Committee members found him qualified as a member due to his experiences in deca, the National Honor Society, sports teams, and also work for the city of Shoreview as a rink attendant. He is recommended for an appointment as a student representative for a term ending MAY 31, 2027. Thank you Council Any questions Sounds great. I d be happy to make motion. I ll make a motion, uh, that we appoint Benjamin Handelsman to the student representative position on the bikeways and Trails Committee through MAY 31st, 2027.

Second. We have a motion by Council member Gardner and a second by council member Donan to appoint Benjamin Handelsman to that Bikeways and Trails Committee as a student rep, um, all in favor, please say aye. I, I oppose same sign. Motion passes 4 to 0, so welcome and thank you to uh Benjamin for applying for this. Um, and with that, brings us to our last um item on the agenda. And I look to council to see if there s anything else, and if not, a, a motion to adjourn at 8:12 P. M. I ll make a motion to adjourn. 2. Ok, we ve got a motion by Council member Mirland and a second by Councilmember Don to adjourn the meeting in 8:12 P. M., all in favor, please say