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CC 2018 09 10CHANHASSEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 10, 2018 Mayor Laufenburger called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was opened with the Pledge to the Flag. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Laufenburger, Councilwoman Tjornhom, Councilman McDonald, Councilwoman Ryan, and Councilman Campion STAFF PRESENT: Todd Gerhardt, Chelsea Petersen, Kate Aanenson, Paul Oehme, Todd Hoffman, Greg Sticha, and Roger Knutson PUBLIC PRESENT: Liz Hoffman 6891 Utica Lane Kara Amorosi 6451 Oriole Avenue Carol & Bud Walker 8042 Autumn Ridge Cy & Madonna Kerber 1341 Lake Drive, #113B Michelle & Mike Rukany Randy, Lisa, Chas Mayer 3831 Meadow Lane Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this council meeting. To those of you that are present in the council chambers as well as those of you that are watching either on Mediacom cable channel or through our website. Through the agenda livestream. For the record let it be noted that the entire council is present tonight and the first order of business is the agenda. Council members I have a couple of modifications that I’d like to make to the agenda. First of all I would like to, if Senator Osmek is present have him speak immediately following the approval of the agenda and also I would like to add an item under council presentations at the end. Adding an agenda item called discussion and possible action regarding recent correspondence from Mr. Donald Amorosi. Is there any other modifications that council would like to make? May I have a motion to reflect those modifications on the agenda. Councilman McDonald: So moved. Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, thank you. Is there a second? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Second. Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Tjornhom seconded to approve the agenda with the addition by Mayor Laufenburger under Council Presentations of adding discussion and possible action regarding recent correspondence from Mr. Donald Amorosi. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 2 Mayor Laufenburger: That motion carries 5-0. We are moving with this agenda. Is the Senator Osmek with us this evening? I think he must be in route. We’ll accommodate him when he arrives. Okay. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: PROCLAMATION: CHANHASSEN RED BIRDS 2018 STATE AMATEUR BASEBALL CLASS B CHAMPIONS. Mayor Laufenburger: We have a public announcement to make this evening folks. Chanhassen is the proud home to the Chanhassen Red Birds and I would like at this time to invite Mr. Mike Ralston to the podium to talk a little bit about the recent escapades of our favorite baseball nine. Mr. Ralston. Mike Ralston: Is this on Denny? Okay. Mayor Laufenburger: Nann is that on? It is on. Mike Ralston: Good. A couple things here. Mayor Laufenburger: Use your outside voice okay. Mike Ralston: Outside voice. Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah there you go. Mike Ralston: Okay I’ll try. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Mike Ralston: So on behalf of the Red Birds Denny we appreciate you and your council recognizing our accomplishments this summer and the role we play within the community. I think that speaks for itself by the number of people here tonight so I’ve got 4 things I would like to appreciate. You know we’re not here today if Terre Kemble doesn’t have the strength and fortitude to rebirth if you would the long layoff that the Red Birds experienced of over 40 years, right? So in 2009 Terre and the board got together and brought amateur baseball back to the city of Chanhassen and our accomplishments this year only speak in small measures of how we can appreciate Terre and the board at the Red Birds. Had they not, there’s probably a lot of things standing in you guy’s way when you thought well let’s go give the Red Birds birth and you had fortitude to get through it and so we had a lot of fun this summer because of that so. The second thing I would like to say is behind any good team is a good set of coaches. Not me but I’ve had a partner in Mike Arnold. I moved to the local area in 2002 and he was my son’s first baseball coach in 2002 when the kids were 8 years old and so I’ll never forget one of the first persons I ever met in Chanhassen/Chaska was Mike and his conversations to me about how he was going Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 3 to run this 8 year old team which was to make sure we kept track diligently of the innings played by each player and that we were fair to each player so none of this is possible. You know we’ve had a 4 year journey together Mike and I. I think our last couple years we’re 68 and 17 give or take a couple so we’ve had a lot of wins but the things I always remember are our setbacks. You know we don’t always have smooth sailing even when you win a state tournament and Mike has always been a friend of mine. He looked at me one time this year and he said you know we both come from, we both don’t have brothers. We both don’t have sisters. We’re both only children. You can ask our wives. Mayor Laufenburger: That explains a lot Mike. Mike Ralston: Exactly…but he kind of gave me a hug and I gave him a hug back and to Mike Arnold who started this journey with me 4 years ago or 2002 you are my brother. Thank you a lot. Thanks for everything you’ve always done for me and my family. You know we did have some downturns you know in the last 4 years Denny a little bit. This year there was more pressure on the guys probably to juggle their schedules. We had guys getting married the last couple years. We had guys get engaged the last couple years. We had some lively conversations didn’t we about what we were going to do with our time and I can’t say as I was right or wrong. It doesn’t matter but we weren’t really hitting the ball very well you know. I think our State MVP and I won’t call anybody else other than his name’s going to be on the bat but you know you hit 480 in the state tournament. He was hitting about a buck 80 give or take a few in the second week and his dad told me, son it’s time that you start working on the 5 T spot so we weren’t doing really good. Mike and I put our heads together because really all we have to do is write a line up. Steer the team a little bit. Little leadership. Little motivation here or there but we came up with a couple things. We came up with, those of you that have seen the movie Major League. We came up with a hitting potion right? The hitting potion that none of us were going to drink out of and then we came up with the saying from Mookie Wilson. He was an all world player for the Mets back in the 70’s-80’s about whenever he was in a slump, hitting slump he just thought of dinosaurs and if he believed in dinosaurs, dinosaurs believed in him and it’d all work out and so through the playoffs and the thing this team really came impassioned by the spirit of dinosaurs and so if you were around the dugout you might have heard, do you believe? Yes we believe and that wasn’t a total religious statement other than it was directed toward, but I think it tells you in life Denny, I mean you can take things a little bit too serious. You can become stressed in life and Mike and I found a way to bring a little humor when we weren’t necessarily doing real well and so this team believes in dinosaurs. The last thing I would say Denny before I turn it over to everybody else is I can’t thank my wife enough. We had conversations about is this where we want to spend our time. We give a lot of our weekends don’t we? To Brenda and Mike we give a lot of weekends to the Chanhassen Red Birds and I’ve got to thank my wife. She gives up a lot of lake time and she gives a lot of vacation time to watch me do what I love to do so on behalf of the Red Birds, to the council and Denny we appreciate the recognition. You guys you’re not only a great team but you’re a great group of young men so thanks for giving Mike and I a great journey. That’s all I have Denny. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 4 Mayor Laufenburger: Thanks Mike. Is there anybody else from the Red Birds organization that would like to say a few words? Please. This is Top Chef Ken Strand. The person you don’t want to speak bad about because he’ll put foreign objects in your hamburger. Ken Strand: And hopefully you’ll come up with a new line soon. Mayor Laufenburger: It works. Ken Strand: It does. Well on behalf of the board of the Red Birds we want to thank the council for inviting us tonight. It’s quite a honor to be here and to be recognized. It was about 10 years ago now that Terre Kemble gave me a call and I hadn’t talked to Terre too much in, over that period of time prior to that she and I had been involved in scouts together so we spent a lot of time on camp outs and planning scout meetings and Terre called and said I’ve got something else we’re going to do. And it wasn’t would you like to. It was this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to start a baseball team and with the help of the first people who were on the board. Elise. Denny. Bud Walker. My wife Marcia. Terre. Nadia Jansen. We got it going. We got it rolling and it wasn’t easy at first but the thing that really made it easy for us was all the support we’ve gotten from the City and particularly from Todd Hoffman and the Park and Rec Department. They have been our number one fans all along. Todd. Whenever he gets a chance makes it down to the ballpark and will you know help with the concessions. Will trim the bushes. Will blow the trash out of the grandstand. Jerry Ruegemer helps us immensely with getting our schedules set up every year. Adam Beer gets out sign put out on the street for every home game so that we advertise as best we can so without their help it would be very difficult. We really appreciate that. We also want to recognize Cullen Bahn, thank you. Cullen Bahn from Chanhassen High School that is now the athletic director and he is, along with Todd and the Red Birds were working very hard to get that stadium even better than it already is. We have a lot of teams that want to come play us and it’s not because we’re a great team, and we are, and it’s not because we’re great guys, because they are, it’s because they want to come to our ballpark and we just want to make that the premiere ballpark in the state of Minnesota and we get a lot of help on that. So on behalf of the board, guys Terre and I and Marcia and the rest of talk quite a bit about not just how proud we are of you guys as ball players but as young men. We couldn’t be prouder. You guys are always very courteous. Friendly. And we really take notice of that. Mike and Mike, you’ve helped turn us into a state champion and that is something we never, never imagined. Well we imagined but we didn’t imagine it would come this soon. And you mentioned a quote from Major League was it? Well I’m going to quote my favorite baseball movie The Natural. And Roy Hobbs is laying in the maternity ward after an injury not sure if he’s going to play in the final game for the Knights and he looks up and he says, God I love baseball and I think we all feel the same way. Thank you. Mayor Laufenburger: Is there anybody else that would like to say something at this time? No not right now Donald. This is Red Birds right now. I want to bring it back to the council. Council members, anybody would like to say anything you’re welcomed to do so and then I’ll have some concluding comments. Anybody want to go first? Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 5 Councilman McDonald: I’ll go. Mayor Laufenburger: Alright Mr. McDonald. Councilman McDonald: Well you know it’s been a long time coming and I really appreciate what you guys did. It was, in watching the whole thing it was kind of a reverse of last year and I thought about that a lot as to how you arrived at where you arrived at and I enjoyed the trip. It was quite thrilling. The one thing that I really liked about this season was that I had an opportunity for my son and I, we went to quite a few of the ballgames. Almost all of them and we went to the championship games and the ones I couldn’t make he made and I think that’s part of what baseball is all about is you know it’s about family and it’s about an opportunity to get people together. I have done what I could do for you guys. I love advertising for everybody. I love supporting the team. I think it’s a great community asset. I think it’s something that all the young Little Leaguers should aspire to come out and watch you guys because of what is possible and for that I really appreciate and I tip my hat for being good role models that you guys are and actually at this point you’ve now earned yourself a place in Chanhassen I think history and lore. Just like the team from the, I believe it was the 50’s was the last time that we did something similar to this so you’ve got a unique spot in I think every citizen’s heart in this town so congratulations. Good job and thank you for quite a show. Councilwoman Tjornhom: Well while I don’t always make all the games I do always get an update from the voice of the Red Birds every other Monday night to hear how you’re doing and I remember being on the council when we had, as a city had the opportunity to collaborate with the high school to build the beautiful stadium that you’re in. It just seemed the timing was perfect. The high school was just kind of being completed and there was this opportunity to build your facility, your home that they can use too and I think that’s just a great, it’s a great way of showing that there can be partnerships with the schools. With the cities. With everyone in the town and so I just am so proud of you and I’m proud to call my home team the Red Birds and congratulations. Thank you. Councilwoman Ryan: Congratulations guys. Coaches. Amazing. Awesome job. I remember, similar to what Ken said, when Terre called and said let’s start this baseball team and Ken, Marcia, Terre, Bud and Nadia, we sat around in the rooms trying to pick out uniforms and colors and spent a lot of great time just talking about what this program was going to be and Terre bring out her Wet Vac to suck off water off the field and bringing the blower in the stands and all of it is because of not only their love for baseball but like you said coach, the love of the players and I think from the very beginning the young men that have chosen to play for the Red Birds represent more than just baseball. They’re representing their communities. Their families and they’re competitors and they want to win but they do it in a respectful manner so congratulations to you. I think it’s great for the team as a whole and incredible for the community so congratulations. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 6 Councilman Campion: Congratulations Red Birds. You are definitely an asset for our community. I definitely don’t make it to enough of your games but earlier this summer I was able to bring my family and Aiden was lucky enough to be able to throw out the first pitch with me which was very cool. He’ll remember that forever. As well as, even though Jerry upped the price per ball from a quarter to a dollar he decided to forego that dollar to be able to go and have it signed by you all and it sits on his shelf in his room so that was pretty special too so thank you for being here for the community. Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you council members. This really is a historic milestone for this community. Community that has found just incredible joy from the Red Birds over the last 70 years. Just think about that, 70 years. I found the Chanhassen Villager Centennial Edition from June of 1996 and there was a page devoted to when Town Ball was King. It said when town ball was King Red Birds were tops and I’m going to take the liberty of reading a little bit of this article because this is a historic milestone for us. So John Mugford was a staff writer for the Villager back then. He writes this, in the late 1940’s and 50’s the Chanhassen Red Birds, a Class B amateur team played their Sunday games before packed stands on the old ballfield where St. Hubert’s Church and School is now located. Or on the fields of their rivals in Carver, Chaska, Waconia, Victoria, Mound and St. Bonifacius. How they fared provided the main topic of conversation in Joe’s or Pauly’s bars for the remainder of the week. Just think about that a little bit. Said Ron Roeser, I’m going to call him Roeser. Ron Roeser who was a teenage fan when the team was founded by Rube Bongard in 1947 and later became a player he said, and by the way Ron is in back. Ron would you wave there for a second. He’s with us tonight. Ron Roeser said I always say that when the Red Birds played their games out of town thieves could have walked into every house and business in town and not been caught by everyone. By anyone. Everyone was out of town watching the team. The author Mugford continues, Chanhassen only had 160 or so people in the city in the 1940’s and was always smaller than Chaska or some of the other towns but because we had a good baseball team we felt just as good as those other cities. Rube Bongard was a couple years out of the Navy when he started the Red Birds in 1947. Roeser believes that Bongard, who tended bar at the time and later opened a farm implement store, he just wanted to start a baseball team. He and a couple others from the town convinced, listen to this, the Carver County Board to level a hill and have trees removed at the site of the Little Woods on West 78th Street just a couple of weeks before the first game. Just imagine that. The County coming in and leveling this area. The County Board’s action caused quite a stir in other towns but Rube Bongard and his contingency had convinced the Board that the city deserved the action because the County had been neglecting Chanhassen for a long time. Things never change. But only once in a glory filled season that sent the town into baseball hysteria did the Red Birds win the Region 7B title and advanced to the State Tournament. That was 1949, a year remembered by almost everyone who recalls the Red Birds according to Roeser. 1949. 69 years ago. He continues, Roeser says many people considered the 1953 team to be the best Red Bird squad ever even though it failed to win the Region. Some of the players besides, by the way some of the players were back then, Stan Roeser, Boogie Wraser, Harry Pauly, Roger Pauly, Bob Meuwissen, and by the way here’s a couple of pictures that have some of those old players on them. Quite amazing and these are from Cy Kerber. Let’s see, let’s see some of the other Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 7 players, the new players included Ron. Ron became from a fan to a ballplayer. Bob Johnson. He was a high school kid from Edina who later turned professional. I think who did he play for Ron, do you know? Pittsburgh? I think he played in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Bob Kurvers. Listen to this one, Dave Chipperly. Mr. Chaska and also Dick Bren. So clearly the lore says that the Red Birds deserve to be on top and today they are on top. We owe some thanks to some key folks for the outcome of last Monday in Shakopee. First of all I do want to say thanks to the school district. Since the opening of the school and the baseball complex in ’09 and ’10 the City has been in cooperation with scheduling and the use of the field. The Red Birds have a great venue and it will only get better over time thanks to the Red Birds, the Legion, the high school and of course Cullen Bahn and the people at the school district. It was mentioned but the parks and rec department for supporting the rebirth of the Red Birds back in 2010. Some people had a vision. Terre had a vision that there would be a day like today and for us to see this come to fruition is quite remarkable. Terre, bless you for your energy. Your perseverance. Your persistence and the assumptive yes that you have is incredible. It’s not will you, it’s we will and by the way this is not only for the Red Birds. This is for everything that Terre touches. She and her board and the many community sponsors that I think about not only Jerry who’s done this every year but Kent Ludford at Merlin’s. Mediacom. Americana Community Bank. Cheer’s was an early sponsor. All of you. It makes a difference for the ballpark and for the team. There is great pride in what you as a board deliver to the fans. I also want to say a special shout to Eric Krauser. Eric since he came on with the Villager he has been an exceptional sports write. He’s been a great chronicler of the Red Birds and Unsi you’ve got to pass along that comment to him would you please. I do want to say a special thanks to the old timers. It’s their shoulders that we are standing on. Ron would you please stand up and hold your applause but Ron would you stand up, Roeser? I think Cy Kerber is here. Can somebody help Ron stand up. I invited Harry Bongard. I don’t know if he’s here. Okay. I want you to stay standing. Cy could you stand? Stay standing. Is Harry Bongard here? He was a bat boy. Is Bob Meuwissen, is he here? Bob was one of the early players. Mark Windschitl, the Mayor of Chaska was actually a bat boy. Howie Meuwissen is another player. Roger Pauly who’s brother in law to Dick Mingo. Somebody that I’m going to mention in a second. Anybody that I missed? I think did I hear correctly that Harry Pauly recently passed away, is that correct? Audience: Friday is the funeral. Mayor Laufenburger: Funeral is in Friday in Chan is that right? So to your, to you guys the shoulders on whom we all stand as a baseball team thank you. Let’s hear it for the old timers. I also want to mention 3 big fans of the Red Birds who are no longer with us. Lowell Mac McMillian is somebody who was a fierce follower of the Red Birds. He and his son Mike and daughter in law Rebecca were at almost every home game and he always had a strategy. He knew exactly what was the right thing to do. I’m surprised he didn’t make it onto the coaching team. Coaching squad. Dick Mingo, long time resident of Chanhassen. In fact Dick Mingo played with the Red Birds at one time. And then when the Red Birds folded in the 1960’s as the development occurred downtown, Dick tried to start up another team called the Chanhassen Mavericks. It did not last. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 8 Ron Roeser: Mayor, one real legend in baseball was Jesse Schwartz. He. Mayor Laufenburger: Please Ron. Can you step to the microphone? Ron Roeser: We got him in his waning years but he was just a delightful ballplayer and he coached everybody that, and he still could still play the game and he was I think in his middle 30’s but he was just outstanding. Outstanding guy. Mayor Laufenburger: Jesse Schwartz. Jesse Schwartz right? Ron Roeser: Jesse Schwartz. Mayor Laufenburger: Alright perfect. So Lowell McMillian was one. Dick Mingo and also Barney Riesgraf. These 3 gentlemen enjoyed baseball and especially enjoyed watching the Red Birds near the end of their lives and all of them are remembered and honored on the Red Birds Honor Roll of Fans and Family on display at the Storm Red Bird Stadium. Now I want to go back to the Centennial article. Here’s how the author concluded this. Roeser says even though he says playing for the Red Birds meant a lot back then and does to this day he recalls most fondly being a teenage fan of the teams of the 40’s. Listen to this guys. All of us kids in town would hang around at their practices. Help the players shag balls. Do whatever they wanted us to do Roeser said. We thought they were the greatest and we could not wait for the day when we could play. They were our heroes. No doubt about it. We love our heroes and to honor them on this day I have this proclamation that I would like to read. This is a proclamation recognizing the 2018 State Amateur Baseball Class B Champions. Whereas the Chanhassen Red Birds town baseball team became the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Class B state champions on Monday, September 3, 2018 during the playing of the 95th annual Minnesota Baseball Association Tournament, and Whereas, the Chanhassen Red Birds during the course of their season won first place at the Green Isle Hamburg Tournament and finished second in the Stearns County Classic, and Whereas, the team had a season record of 33 wins and only 8 loses, and Whereas, the team defeated the Miesville Mudhens in the final 2 games of the State Tournament by a scores of 6 to 1 and 7 to 4, and Whereas, the team was coached by Mike Ralston, Mike Arnold and scorekeeper Matt Schrad, and Whereas the players on the team are Brandon Arnold, Nick Smith, Derek Smith, Joe Jersak, Kyle Fischer, Ryan Burmeister, Matthew Smith, Logan Spitzack, Michael Jensen, Thomas Thompson, Riley Johnson, Ryan Diers, Gunnar McCarthy, John Eischens, Miles Nablo, Adrian Turner, Chris Choles, Dominic Reed, Zach Hoffman, Garrett Fischer, Justin Anderson, Justin Jeronimous, Jacob Goraczkowski, Shawn Riesgraf, and Connor Herd. Now Be It Resolved that the Honorable Mayor Denny Laufenburger and the members of the City Council of the City of Chanhassen on behalf of all citizens do hereby recognize the Chanhassen Red Birds for being the 2018 Minnesota Amateur Baseball Class B State Champions and for being the pride of Chanhassen and do hereby declare September 10, 2018, today Chanhassen Red Birds Day in Chanhassen, Minnesota. I have proclamations for each and every one of you. I’m going Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 9 to come and distribute those now. Now I know some of you may not be here but we’re going to try and do this. So Connor Herd. Mike Ralston: At school. Mayor Laufenburger: Augustana. Mike Ralston: Yeah. Mayor Laufenburger: Jacob Goraczkowski. Mike Ralston: At school. Mayor Laufenburger: Chaska High School graduate crossed over to Chanhassen. Justin Jeronimous. JJ. Mike Ralston: He’s at school. Mayor Laufenburger: At school. Justin Anderson, number 27. Justin. Also the MVP of the State Tournament. Garrett Fischer, number 25. Zach Butch Hoffman, number 24. Zach were you on the All Tournament Team? Zach Hoffman: I was. Mayor Laufenburger: And Garrett. Garrett Fischer: Yeah. Mayor Laufenburger: That’s what I thought. You help me with that Mike. Dominic Reed. Mike Ralston: At school. Mayor Laufenburger: At school. Pitched a wonderful game against. Mike Ralston: Northfield and Moorhead. Mayor Laufenburger: Northfield and Moorhead both. Cholesy, Chris Choles. Mike Ralston: Working. Mayor Laufenburger: Busy. Adrian Turner, AC. Is he here? Mike Ralston: Working. Coaching. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 10 Mayor Laufenburger: Coaching. Miles Nablo. Your victory was over the first Miesville game right? Miles Nablo: Yep. Mayor Laufenburger: John Eischens. Is he here? Johnny. Gunnar McCarthy. Mike Ralston: He’s working. Mayor Laufenburger: Working, alright. And by the way, you know he will go down in lore because of his walk off, two outs bases loaded, 3-2 count, walk off home run that set us in motion last year in the very first game against Sauk Rapids Cyclones. Ryan Diers. Mike Ralston: He’s working. Mayor Laufenburger: He’s working. We’re taking your word for this Mike. Riley Johnson. Mike Ralston: School. Audience: He’s at school, Augustana. Mayor Laufenburger: Great addition this year. The speedster. Somehow he made a triple in New Prague. The people in the press box in New Prague said there’s no way he can make a triple. Either it’s a homerun or a double and he made it a triple. Thomas Thompson. Is he in school? Mike Ralston: School. Mayor Laufenburger: Alright. Michael Jensen. Mike Ralston: School. Mayor Laufenburger: School. Logan Spitzack. Mike Ralston: Teaching. Mayor Laufenburger: Teaching. Matthew Smith. Come on here Matthew. Burmey, Ryan Burmeister. Mike Ralston: Teaching. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 11 Mayor Laufenburger: Teaching. Kyle Fischer. Pitched an outstanding game to win 7 to 4 against Miesville. Finished the whole game right and that was more innings than you had pitched any time during the year, is that correct? Kyle Fischer: Yes. Mayor Laufenburger: Dug deep. Dug deep. Is Joe Jersak here tonight? Mike Ralston: School. Mayor Laufenburger: School. Derek Smith. Mike Ralston: School. Mayor Laufenburger: Nick Smith. Mike Ralston: School. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. I’ve got 2 guys that I want to bring up here together. Shawn Riesgraf and Brandon Arnold. Will you both come up here. I believe that these two guys are responsible for the rebirth of the rebirth of the Red Birds because Shawn and Brandon got together. We were in a little bit of a lull and Shawn was thinking what can we do to really energize. Brandon was playing for the Victoria Vics and the two of them got together and says let’s just make the Red Birds the best we can. They brought along, these two guys brought along two coaches so the coaches didn’t come first. It’s these two guys came first so Shawn Catfish and Brandon the Professor, let’s give them an extra round of applause. Is Matt here? Coaching? Mike Ralston: He’s at an event. Mayor Laufenburger: Matt Schrad, great scorekeeper. And he had one plate appearance this year too. M2, Mike Arnold. Come on up here Mike. Mike Ralston. Mike, he said it before but the one who really should get this is Chris. Chris you have endured far, far more than Mike has so I expect you can pass this right along to Chris. Mike Ralston: Well said. Mayor Laufenburger: And Terre you’ve got to come up here. Not going to ask you to say anything. You just have to stand up here. Heart and soul of the Chanhassen Red Birds. Terre, this proclamation belongs to you. Congratulations. Audience: Way to go Terre. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 12 Mayor Laufenburger: And with that we’re going to pause for a little bit of a recess and we’re going to have some cake so Red Birds congratulations. You’ve raised the bar. We’re expecting a repeat. There was a short recess in the meeting to celebrate with cake. Mayor Laufenburger: Alright ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to end the recess of the council meeting and bring it back to order. We’re going to continue with the agenda. Next item on our agenda is our consent agenda item. CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman McDonald moved, Councilman Campion seconded to approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s recommendations: 1. Approve City Council Minutes dated August 20, 2018 2. Approve City Council Minutes dated August 27, 2018 3. Approve Fireworks Display at St. Hubert Catholic Community, September 15, 2018 4. Approve Fireworks Display at Chanhassen High School, October 5, 2018 5. Approve Bill of Sale for Ladder 11 All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS. Mayor Laufenburger: We have a scheduled visitor with us, joining us tonight is State Senator David Osmek from Senate District 33 which is, covers a portion of Chanhassen. Welcome Senator, nice to have you with us tonight. Senator David Osmek: Thank you Mr. Mayor. Good to see the council. I know how to clear a room. All you’ve got to do is say a politician and coming and they vanish. It’s a good thing I wasn’t in front of them because I think that was far more important probably than a lot of things that I do so good to be with you today. You did not get missed last year. I found out when we became the majority how much work becomes your problem as a person that’s in the majority at the Minnesota State Senate. Mayor Laufenburger: It means you could actually get things done right? Senator David Osmek: Well. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 13 Mayor Laufenburger: Kind of. Senator David Osmek: Maybe. Then you put together a 900 page Bill this year that gets vetoed that had a lot of good things in it, including and also a tax Bill that we did have the Excelsior Commons Provision in it for the local option sales tax for Excelsior to actually work on their park for them. They have a lot of rip rap issues that they need help with and we would have been able to provide them $5 million dollars worth of tax increment, well I’m sorry. Not tax increment financing but local option sales tax for them to work on that. I want to talk about that for just a second. The City Council of Excelsior passed that 5-0. They put it on a regular general ballot that you guys are normally on and it passed by 16 points. There’s a lot of people that say well, Senator Osmek you’re Mr. No Tax right? Well of course I am but I’m also representing you as your City Council at the State Capitol so that’s very important to me that I represent you, not necessarily my political whims or my political choices. It’s important that I represent your point of view so the legislative session ended with a veto thud. We had in that Bill we actually had some spending that I helped shepherd through on the renewable developments account that actually was going to help businesses that are impacted by a power down of a couple of different biomass facilities we have. One is out in Benson, Minnesota. I may have heard about them. They’re the turkey excrement burning facility which people don’t quite understand how bad that facility, how expensive that was to us the rate payers because you all are Xcel rate payers. For every dollar of turkey excrement that was burned, we were paying $11 worth of transport costs. That’s a problem so we did help, try to help those businesses. We’re going to be coming back for a second run at that. Other than that I’m more or less here to hear what you have to say. I come, I try to get to your legislative overviews before session starts. Don’t always make it but I certainly get the report on it. Anything you have on your mind happy to take back to the Capitol. We are starting to craft, it sounds strange. We’re already starting to craft Bills now for the legislative session so I will be working actually more or less next month on Bills that we need to get to and start on starting on January 1st. Well January 7th I think is when we come back so with that members of the council any questions? Concerns? Comments? Mayor Laufenburger: Council any questions or comments or anything you’d like to say? Councilmember Ryan. Councilwoman Ryan: Thank you Senator. I’m curious about the, how far or if there’s potential for any legislations around hands free driving. Senator David Osmek: Right now there’s not a lot of movement on that. However, and I haven’t been the biggest supporter of hands free driving. Of that particular Bill because it’s very difficult to enforce. My position has been let’s deal with distracted driving because that is between a cell phone, a radio, the kids in the back seat, that extra French fry underneath you that you dropped on the floor, there’s a lot of ways that people become distracted and Representative Frankie had a good distracted driving Bill. Right now you could actually only spend a few months in jail if you actually killed someone because you were improperly driving a vehicle and I think that that is woefully, woefully, and it isn’t about reforming someone that goes, had has Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 14 had this happen. It’s also a matter of you paying your debt to society because you have killed someone so I think we have to look at the laws on manslaughter, vehicular. I’m not sure if we have vehicular manslaughter but I think we have to start looking at that because I want to hold people accountable just not for distracted driving but more over for every problem and every issue that people have that are causing them to have these accidents. Councilwoman Ryan: And how is that, how do you enforce that any easier than with whether or not they’re on a cell phone or they’re getting a French fry. I mean how is, how do you differentiate enforcement? Senator David Osmek: You will have to, there’s proof, levels of proof you have to go to and I don’t serve on the judiciary committee so I’m not as well versed in it but there are levels of proof that you have to climb through in order to show that this person was distracted and it’s the same thing you would have with distracted driving by hands free. Councilwoman Ryan: Okay. Senator David Osmek: I’ve seen too many times, my daughter totaled my wife’s SUV about 4 years ago because she was messing with the radio so hands free is one component of a bigger issue. Out in McLeod County where I come from they actually had someone that was hit on the shoulder and the person I think got 8 months in jail. That’s not appropriate. Regardless of your intent, see the problem you climb through is intent and obviously the person didn’t intend on hitting them but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be held accountable. Councilwoman Ryan: Right. Senator David Osmek: I will be, that will be one of my priority items is getting through additional, getting through tougher distracted driving laws for all types of distracted driving. Councilwoman Ryan: Okay thank you. That’s one and then any legislation around opioids? And I know it came close last session but it didn’t pass. Senator David Osmek: Well I have a very deep concern about having what’s called Penny a Pill because the people who are paying for the Penny a Pill, the largest vast majority are people who are not abusing the system. So you’re asking people who are not abusing, and actually people who are really abusing opioids aren’t even getting prescriptions most of the time from doctors. They’re getting it off the street from different places and if you try and enforce that upon drug companies what are they going to do? And I work in the health care industry. All they’re going to do is raise their average wholesale price so there has to be, my opinion is if this is a problem and it’s a crisis then we should be dealing with it from our general fund budget, to help counties, more specifically help counties, especially Hennepin County in coming up with programs. Also the federal government is in the process of bringing in programs too and I was also very reticent about doing anything until we know what the feds are going to do. Of course the feds may never Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 15 do anything but that’s my opinion of the situation. I’m very hesitant on the Penny a Pill for those reasons. Councilwoman Ryan: Okay and it was broader than, I know the Penny a Pill didn’t pass last year but I was curious about if you see any legislation coming in in terms of you know treatment and just addressing obviously what is a national crisis. If we’re doing anything at the State level. Senator David Osmek: I do see us spending money on that in the next general, next year will be a general fund budget. I do see us spending on it. My preference would be to send it to counties for them to improve their programs because the money, the closest to the problem is probably the best served for the situation. I don’t know if we want to create a statewide problem because it may be a problem that counties already recognize. Councilwoman Ryan: Right, okay thank you Senator. Senator David Osmek: Sure. Mayor Laufenburger: Anybody else? Councilman McDonald: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. McDonald. Councilman McDonald: Do you see anything happening this year with reform to Met Council? Senator David Osmek: One of my favorite topics as you know. My opinion of the Met Council is rather low because they’ve earned it. My hope is, and Mayor Laufenburger was a testifier at one point in time to a Bill to try and make them a little bit more accountable. I think it depends unfortunately it will depend upon who becomes Governor of the State of Minnesota. I think that we should be, even the democrats on the other side of the aisle recognize the fact that Met Council has lost it’s way from a representative standpoint and there have been a number of provisions including electing them. Direct election on a general election ballot which I would have some nervousness about because I think I’ve said this before, who’s your Water and Soil, you guys are probably the bad ones to ask this question. Who’s your Water and Soil Commission and what does he believe in? It’s very difficult to find out what a Met Council rep is going to do so my hope is that my common sense direction that Mayor Laufenburger was testifying on is the route to go but I think we have to have some changes and even the other side of the aisle recognizes that. Councilman McDonald: Thank you. Mayor Laufenburger: And Senator just so you know this council was on record in support of reform of governance at the Met Council. We passed that resolution I think it was sometime Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 16 during 2017 if I’m not mistaken. And I recently co-signed a letter from, a letter to Jason Lewis, Congressman in support of reform to the Met Council as well. I have a couple comments if I will and then a huge thank you too. First of all this council has also passed a resolution in support of local control. You know there are many things that can be done at a State level that impede our ability to make local decisions and obviously we support local control along with many cities that are part of the League of Minnesota Cities doing so. And one in particular is, I ask that you keep us in mind when you consider putting restrictions on wireless companies and their application fees and I know that you’ve voiced a view on that and I’m not asking you to voice that at this time but we think that we should be able to establish what is a reasonable application fee and not be impeded by the wireless companies so just keep that in mind. But now a big thanks. You were a big supporter of Chanhassen’s contingent at the Capitol when we were advocating for $9 million dollars of bonding for completion of 101 so on behalf of not only this council but the community and Mr. Oehme who loves to build roads. Thank you for your support of that $9 million dollar bonding Senator. And with that we appreciate you serving us and we hope to see you again very soon. Senator David Osmek: Well thank you for your time and I always love building roads. Just not roads for trains. Mayor Laufenburger: Yeah I understand that. Senator David Osmek: Appreciate your time and I look forward to seeing you perhaps next year and try and become a little bit more even cyclical. It was, last year was a very difficult year with trying to put together a budget, being the Chair of a committee and having a full time job on top of it so I know where you guys come from and on your local control issue, I don’t think you’ll find anybody that believes more in local control than myself. Mayor Laufenburger: Good. Senator David Osmek: So thank you very much. Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Senator. Thank you. Now if there is anyone else that would like to make a presentation during visitor presentation you may step forward at this time. Just state your name and address please. Donald Amorosi: It’s Donald Amorosi. It’s 2368 Grays Landing Road in Wayzata, Minnesota. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, nice to have you with us Mr. Amorosi. Donald Amorosi: Yeah thank you for having me. Audience: Excuse me but his mic… Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 17 Donald Amorosi: Oh it’s not here? Can you hear me back there now? Mayor Laufenburger: Nann could you turn up the visitor mic just a little bit please? Okay there you go. Donald Amorosi: So I would congratulate the Red Birds but looks like they all chose not to stick around for the boring part of the agenda. Mayor Laufenburger: Wait a minute there’s no boring part of a City Council agenda Mr. Amorosi. Donald Amorosi: I thought I heard you say that. Mayor Laufenburger: Well maybe I did so. Donald Amorosi: I don’t find it boring. So first I’m, it’s remarkable that you spend 45 minutes with them. The level of engagement and the knowledge that you displayed towards their team was remarkable and that you committed 45 minutes of a room full of people’s time too I think is great. I’m envious of it. I’m looking forward to see how much time you spend on a topic that I think is very important. So I want to start by clearly stating that what I’m about to say requires no discussion about the open investigation associated with my 16 year old son’s, our 16 year old son’s tragic and unnecessary killing at his mother’s home in Chanhassen 2 months ago this Thursday. It precipitates it. One month ago I came before this group and presented and asked for a measure of condolence. I asked for some accountability and a description of action taken or to be taken by the council. I also asked for guidance about where to go if the council isn’t the place where I should be presenting this information. Since that time I’ve had 2 informal, unofficial calls with a council member. Elise I thank you very much for doing that. I think a couple people said we’d be happy to put signs in our yard for you for re-election. I appreciate that you took the time to speak with me at length twice. Unfortunately those have been so far unproductive. I also got 2 email responses from 2 council members to an email I sent to them last night. Aside from that I’ve heard nothing from this committee in any way, shape or form about the inquiry that I made and the request that I made when I was here a month ago. Over the same period of time this past month I participated in numerous meetings with several advocacy groups, countless individuals, law enforcement, journalists, attorneys, even individuals at the highest levels of Minnesota State government. With the same publicly available information that you have they all offered support. Some offered to take action. Most all stated that things went very wrong in Chanhassen on July 13th and possibly before and after. What none of them told me is that they could not talk to me because of an open investigation. Tonight I’m back before this council in hopes of a different answer and if you can’t answer me because of that open investigation excuse, then please take note and pounce on it when it’s closed. So I’d like to ask for this. A response to my oral presentation. A description of what actions the council has taken and what it has learned to date with respect to conducting a broad review of the systems and resources available to residents with mental illness, particularly in crisis. And I’d like a plan for Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 18 actions the council intends to take in the future and when. Now I’m going to pause for a second. I’ve noticed you’ve broken from tradition and have engaged your last 2 presenters quite actively so I’ll give you a chance to do so with me right now if you wish. If you have nothing to say I’ll continue. Mayor Laufenburger: You’re welcome to continue Mr. Amorosi. Donald Amorosi: Okay. I believe that this council and this city has a unique obligation to aggressively pursue the truth and to inspire or even mandate learnings and change where needed so that this community addresses the significant and growing problems with how those with mental illness are treated. You see what I consider to be one of the most alarming tragedies in years happened in your town to one of your residents. Not just one really. Many of us and on your watch. And the systems, the schools, the crisis teams, law enforcement and so forth are contracted by you to provide services in accordance with your requirements and are paid for with our dollars. So to me you’re in a uniquely situated position unlike anyone else. In this view I have some recommendations that I ask you consider adopting. It doesn’t appear to me that you have anything to offer so I will go out on a limb and offer you some things to consider. One, participate if not chair a homicide review that the Minnesota Department of Health will soon commence. They’ve even suggested and welcome that you chair that committee. This review will be designed to understand, innovate and focus prevention and intervention resources. Two, meet with Health Partners applicable leadership to discuss Make It Okay. Make It Okay is a community based program intended to break down stigma and encourage positive mental health. They have asked for an audience. Audit your agreements with public safety and schools to determine whether funding is adequate and whether dollars are properly spent with respect to mental illness. Report formally and publicly your decisions and findings so I don’t have to keep doing this. And last find us a nice place to plant a tree in my son’s memory. Minnetonka High School won’t do it. So I’ll close with this. One in four people experience mental illness each year. According to NAMI one in five kids between the age of 18, 13 and 18 suffer from mental illness. That’s more kids in Minnetonka Schools appear to think use drugs or alcohol. And what’s worst is they wait almost 10 years to get treatment. So Mayor Laufenburger the last time I was here you said something along the lines of don’t interrupt silence with a lack of concern. What I don’t want to do next is have to figure out how to interrupt passivity. Thank you for allowing me this time. Mayor Laufenburger: Thank you Mr. Amorosi. Could I make a request? Donald Amorosi: Want me to stay up? Mayor Laufenburger: Please. You were very specific in your requests. I would like to make sure that the council has an opportunity to review those in our time. Could you possibly make a copy of your comments available to us? Donald Amorosi: Yes, certainly. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 19 Mayor Laufenburger: Would you be okay with that? Donald Amorosi: Yeah. Mayor Laufenburger: Would you, you can either do that via email to our city manager or you can make a copy, or if you want to give that to us right now that would be helpful. Donald Amorosi: I’ll send it to you. I’ll send it to you. Mayor Laufenburger: Alright. Donald Amorosi: What out of coincidence is your time? Mayor Laufenburger: Say that again? Donald Amorosi: You said on your time. What is that? Is that 10 years? 10 days? Mayor Laufenburger: On my time. Donald Amorosi: It seems like I recall some things that maybe you don’t say or maybe you don’t remember saying. Never mind. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, thank you Mr. Amorosi. Is there any other visitor presentation at this time? Alright at this time I will conclude visitor presentations. Thank you. Just a reminder to the citizens that we have visitor presentation at all of our regularly scheduled council meetings and you’re welcome to address the council on any matter that’s of concern to you and with that I’m going to bring it back to the agenda. COUNCIL PRESENTATIONS. Mayor Laufenburger: And that concludes the formal business. Now we’re going to move to council presentations. Is there any council presentation at this time? Councilwoman Ryan: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Laufenburger: Yes. Councilwoman Ryan: Well I have two but I, I know we concluded visitor presentations but I would like to comment on Mr. Amorosi and some of his requests. I know we’re bringing it back to council but he addressed the conversations that I had with him and I would like to address what he and I talked about publicly and some of the actions that in response to the conversation that we had. I know this is an election. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 20 Mayor Laufenburger: Just a sec. We have an agenda item that is specifically discussion and possible action regarding the recent correspondence from Mr. Amorosi. Is your comments, could it directly impact our discussion and our actions? Councilwoman Ryan: No this is an opportunity for council presentation and I would like to address this. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay please, yep go ahead. Councilwoman Ryan: So I’m not going to pull any punches because I know that the thoughts about election season and in my conversation with Mr. Amorosi I said to him specifically I am calling you number one, because I regretted, I regretted not offering my condolences the night at the meeting and I’m calling as a council member. More importantly as a community member. I have children that are in the Minnetonka School District and I’m not calling on behalf of council but as an individual in the community. We had, I explained to him at that point that I was up for, running for an office with City Council and in no way was I doing this because of my run for mayor. So one of the, a couple of the questions that he posed to me had to do with the Carver County Crisis Center and I talked to Mr. Gerhardt and asked what responsibilities we had as a city with the Carver County Crisis Center and that is not oversight which the City has and I explained that to Mr. Amorosi. Second we talked about training and we received information on mental health training from our officers which I also shared. What I did offer because of my affiliation with Tonka Cares and relationships that I have with the Minnetonka School Board because a lot of the concerns that he has have to do with decisions that are made at the school board level but I would be willing to individually talk to those people and gather individuals to see what we can do to address mental health in our community. Again as a community member, not as much as a council member. We did in a subsequent conversation he presented the Minnesota Department of Health review as well as the Health Partner, the Make It Okay program and that is something that I’m still willing to be a member of or participate in in terms of gathering information. We can bring it back at the council level, whether I’m a representative of council or I do it as a community member that’s involved with the school board and Minnetonka School District and work with people in the District 112 as well. So obviously mental health advocacy comes from leadership in our community and whether I’m on council or not on council or affiliated with the school board, this is something that is important to me and I’m willing to do it on that. In every conversation I always made it very clear that I did not want to discuss anything to do with the investigation. That this was strictly revolving around the mental health issue that we’re facing in the country but in particularly in our city so I just wanted to clarify some of the commentary and make sure that it was very clear that I was going it as an individual. Would like to do it as a council member but I just wanted to make sure I cleared the air on that. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Is there any other council presentations? Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 21 Councilwoman Ryan: I have one more on a separate note and I’m glad Mr. Hoffman is still here because I would like to congratulate the Chanhassen Parks and Rec System Plan team for being selected as a recipient of the Excellence in Community Engagement Award for 2018. This was a tremendous effort led by our Parks and Rec Director Todd Hoffman and the team consisted of a wide range of the Park and Rec Commission, Environmental Commission, Senior Commission, and we had a great group of individuals you know that were affiliated with the city but we also had members from Carver County, the Arts Consortium, and if I’m, am I missing anything? I think then oh members at large from both 276 and 112 and we held a number of meetings to try to outline that plan but the reason we’re getting this recognition is because of community engagement and it was a wonderful effort because we had open houses. Pop up tents at the farmers market and dog park. We had an interactive web on our website where people could pin point where there are missing links in our system. Our parks and rec system today and what they would like to see in the future. And I think that it is a very well deserved award and I wanted to congratulate the team. I was very pleased to be a part of that team and be part of that process and congratulate you Mr. Hoffman on leading the charge on it and I’m very pleased that we got this award so I just wanted to say congratulations. Todd Hoffman: Thank you. Councilwoman Ryan: Thanks. And that’s it for me. Thank you. Mayor Laufenburger: Alright, any other council presentation? Alright at this time I would like to address the agenda item that I had, that was added to the agenda. This is a discussion and possible action regarding recent correspondence from Mr. Amorosi and each of you were presented with a copy of both the email that was sent by Mr. Amorosi to the council members. And let me just make sure that was sent on Sunday, September 9th at 3:49 p.m. and I’m, you have copies of it so I don’t need to read that for you but essentially it’s asking for, the purpose of this email is to request that an agenda item be added to the Chanhassen City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 18th. We don’t meet on that particular day, but to provide eager constituents, specifically a response to my oral presentation. I reviewed that oral presentation and I’ve made some notes and I’m doing this, and each of you could see that video that Mr. Amorosi made, or that presentation he made on August 13th. But his request as I interpret it is he requested the City Council form and fund if necessary an independent committee that reports to the City Council made up of number one, a person from social services. Number two, a representative from the area crisis center. Number three, a member of law enforcement. Number four, a council member. Number five, a mental health professional. A parent, a student and an educator and a member of the press. And his request further went on to say that none of these are to be employed or affiliated with the City or the County and he has, his specific words is that he would like us to charge this committee with the task to evaluate the circumstances around this tragedy identifying breakdowns in opportunities and looking for better systems and improvements in protocol and procedures which may reduce, if not eliminate this from happening ever again and Mr. Amorosi went on to say that he believes that neither the judiciary, and I assume that he means law enforcement by that, or the BCA have brought enough reach on Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 22 this tragedy. Neither of those are advocates for the constituency. He believes the council is to be advocates. So that’s the verbal presentation that Mr. Amorosi made on August 13th and what I would like to do is open that particular topic for discussion specifically around the question, council number one, is there anything in your view that I might have missed in my brief summary of Mr. Amorosi’s presentation and number two is, is there anything that you as a council would like to suggest that we do regarding this. But before I turn this to the council I would like to ask this question. Mr. Knutson, are you familiar with Mr. Amorosi’s request on August 13th? Roger Knutson: Mayor, members of the council I was not present that night. I was on vacation but I’ve been, learned about through these emails to a certain extent and from the presentations tonight. Mayor Lauf enburger: Okay. Is there anything you would like to comment on the council’s, let’s call it the council’s official responsibility in responding to Mr. Amorosi’s request? I realize that I’m asking you a lawyer so that’s the context that I’m looking for. Roger Knutson: The City Council if it chose to do and thinks it would be appropriate could discuss and develop policies on dealing with mental illness but we should be, you have to be very careful to stay away from the particular incident involving the tragedy that was discussed because that is under investigation by the BCA and it will be, a decision will be made by the County Attorney and the City has no role in that and you wouldn’t want to try to influence it. That would be inappropriate. If you want to study mental health issues in general and how it should be responded you could do that if you choose to but staying away from that tragic incident. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. We do have some new information that has been shared with the council too and that is that I inquired of Mr., County Attorney Mark Metz regarding the timing. In the most recent email from Mr. Amorosi he suggested that the investigation will likely be closed by 9/18. So let me give you, council members the facts on this. Mr. Metz responded to my inquiry, he said Dear Mayor Laufenburger. In response to your request inquiry please be advised that I expect that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will have substantially completed it’s comprehensive investigation regarding the officer involved shooting this Friday, September 14th. The Carver County Attorney’s office will give review of these materials our highest priority. While I cannot give you a concrete date for our final legal determination as I must exercise due diligence in examining the materials, I plan to make a final decision within 30 days unless unforeseen events occur. Please note that until I make my final decision all law enforcement reports remain classified as confidential. So Mr. Amorosi however he came to that date of 9/18, that was not far off but I would say that according to County Attorney he will take 30 days unless unforeseen events occur before he makes his final decision and just a reminder that that, elements of that investigation will remain confidential until one of two things occurs. Number one, either no charges will be filed at which time the investigation data will become available immediately. Or if charges are filed after the case has concluded it’s, Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 23 what’s the, final disposition I guess. Final disposition of the charges. Whether found guilty. Not guilty. Whatever that might be, then the information will become available. Is that correct Mr. Knutson? Roger Knutson: Close. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Roger Knutson: Investigative material becomes public after the time to appeal is out. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Roger Knutson: So if he’s found guilty or found innocent. Found guilty for example. I’m not suggesting he would be, or if he pleads guilty, investigative data remains confidential until after that appeal period runs. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. So the, what we’re talking about is the BCA investigation. That material will remain confidential until such time that it becomes public information. So that brings me back to the question that I wanted to raise and that is council, regarding Mr. Amorosi’s verbal request on August 13, which he is asking for a response to in his most current email, is there any action or direction that you as a council, or us as a council would be in favor of adopting? Councilman Campion: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Campion. Councilman Campion: So my heart breaks for the Amorosi’s and what they’ve endured. I do have extended family members that have had issues with mental health and I know how difficult that can be to deal with and I am supportive of you know looking at what we can do to partner with the community and local schools to address mental health so I personally am supportive of looking into or starting such a committee. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Anything else? Councilman Campion: For now that’s it. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Anybody else? Councilwoman Ryan: Mr. Mayor. Mayor Laufenburger: Councilmember Ryan. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 24 Councilwoman Ryan: I’ll follow up on what I said before. I would, I’d like to get more information. I don’t know Mr. Amorosi if you can pass it along to the City Manager but what the Minnesota Department of Health is specifically looking for as well as the Health Partners mental, the Make It Okay program and bring that along with some of the other information you brought tonight. Your request with planting a tree. I think those were the 3, the ones that I picked up on but bring it back to a work session where we can discuss it as a council. What these programs are. What the role of the City would be in establishing that relationship and have the discussion at a work session. And then make some decisions going forward from there. Mayor Laufenburger: And just in brief how would you capsulize the objective of the work session? I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m just trying to figure out. Councilwoman Ryan: Right. Mayor Laufenburger: Because ultimately we’re going to be directing staff and I want to make sure that we direct staff with clear information. Does that make sense? Councilwoman Ryan: Well we could talk mental health. I mean that’s so broad. I mean I think you know exactly, well maybe staff doesn’t understand. If you could get the information from Mr. Amorosi or if Mr. Amorosi can pass it along to Mr. Gerhardt what those programs are and I think we should review it based on the request brought forward by Mr. Amorosi. Amorosi. I’m just thrashing your name every time I say it. Amorosi, correct. Donald Amorosi: Yes. Councilwoman Ryan: Okay, Mr. Amorosi. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Todd Gerhardt: Mayor and council. Mayor Laufenburger: Yep. Todd Gerhardt: The way I understand it we would get those different programs. Define those programs for you. When they were established. How they exist. How to be a part of them. How to develop a community based program from those and bring that back to you and look for direction from council if there’s anything that you would want to do with either of those two programs. As long as it has nothing to do with the investigation that is more within your rights to develop such a program. As to the memorial tree, we have a memorial tree program and it’s, a name would go out on the tree that you see in the hallway and then work with our Park and Rec Director in finding a location somewhere within the community. There is a cost of about $500 for the tree and the planting and we would work with you in finding a location that’s appropriate and suggest some spots throughout the community and his name would be placed on the Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 25 memorial tree in the hallway and then I think there is a placard that also goes where the tree is planted. Mayor Laufenburger: And who should Mr. Amorosi connect with on that? Todd Gerhardt: Todd Hoffman. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay Mr. Hoffman. You got that Donald? Okay. Donald Amorosi: Ted or Todd? Todd Gerhardt: Todd. Mayor Laufenburger: Todd. Todd Gerhardt: Can’t have enough Todd’s. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. Any other comment on this? Councilwoman Tjornhom: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Laufenburger: Sure, Councilmember Tjornhom. Councilwoman Tjornhom: I think that what Mr. Amorosi is trying to do is start the healing process for his family and the community and prevent another family from having to go through what you’re going through and I think this is a great way to start and I think the most important thing is, is education and support for families that are struggling with mental health issues and aren’t necessarily finding resources that can help them. And so I would suggest that you know even as a city, as a council or as a special group that those resources are brought in. I know NAMI is very supportive and is very willing to speak and the Mayor of Savage is actually President of NAMI in Scott County. She has a son that she’s dealt with for years with mental health issues and I know also that it’s a struggle because there aren’t facilities to help you. You know there aren’t facilities for treatment of mental illness. A lot of times they’ll just be ending up going to jail or to a halfway house in Duluth or wherever it may be and that’s not the solution either and so I do feel for you and I do want to help and I’m offering any of my knowledge I have. Not of how to help you but how to help you find the resources and start those groups and start those educational programs that can actually start the dialogue with everybody. You know we all would like to step back the day before everything happened and prevent it if we can somehow and so I am willing, not on the council level but as a professional person that deals with social programs and helping people find resources to help you and even like I said, get a list going and get some educational programs going for you if that would help at all. Mayor Laufenburger: Anything else Councilmember Tjornhom? Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 26 Councilwoman Tjornhom: No. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, anybody else? Let’s see. Councilmembers, I think that we need to recognize that, and both Councilmember Tjornhom and Councilmember Ryan said this that when we choose to become elected officials there are some things that we lose the right to do. I can’t have conversations with two of you that could possibly migrate to business conversations because that’s a violation of the open meeting law. We can’t meet for casual social experiences to, without posting it as a potential public meeting. There are things that I would like to say as a citizen to many people in this community but because of my title and my role as mayor I have to use judgment about how I make my comments. Mr. Amorosi stated that, with the exception of emails from two of the council members, and I don’t think he was referring to the one that I sent him, he hasn’t heard any condolences. Well I know that Mr. Gerhardt was at the vigil that was conducted for Archer. I previously stated that I was at his funeral. I didn’t make it known that the mayor was there. I wasn’t there as mayor. I was there as a grieving citizen grieving over the loss of somebody that was important in the community. So each of us choose to console and offer condolences in our different ways but there are I believe that there are judgments that we must make as elected officials to ensure that our individual actions do not create the potential for a liability for the city. So let me repeat again that this is not passivity. This is not silence. This is deep caring for our community and there are restrictions on what we, well I believe there are restrictions on what we can do. I’m going to offer a direction to staff and I’m going to ask that once I conclude this that perhaps it be made in the form of a motion. First of all I would like to direct staff to work with our attorney to prepare a response to Mr. Amorosi. A response to his most recent email. That message was sent to council members but this falls in the category of official correspondence and I would like staff and Mr. Knutson to prepare an appropriate response. I would also like to direct staff to create a work session where the council can talk about and learn about the different programs that are available to families, people who are dealing with individuals that have stress related issues. Anxiety. Mental health. Perhaps addiction issues. That work session would be worthwhile but include in that work session not an education, not only an education for council but also bring examples about how other communities similar to Chanhassen. Similar in size. Similar in make up, what they have done to address this. I know that some organizations or some cities have what are known as human rights commissions. We don’t have a human rights commission. Perhaps this is something that might precipitate the formation of a human rights commission so that’s what I would like to see happen but I would like that to come from somebody in the form of a motion. Is there such a motion? Councilwoman Ryan: Mr. Mayor? Mayor Laufenburger: Yes Councilmember Ryan. Councilwoman Ryan: I’d like to make a motion. I’d like to make the motion that the City Council recommends that Mr. Knutson prepares a formal response to the email sent by Mr. Chanhassen City Council – September 10, 2018 27 Amorosi, number one. And number two, the direction to staff to put on a work session agenda addressing the mental health, mental health education. Mayor Laufenburger: Do you mind incorporating the related cities? Examples of what other cities. Councilwoman Ryan: And what other cities are currently doing. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, alright. Councilman McDonald: I’ll second. Mayor Laufenburger: Is that a valid motion Mr. Knutson? Roger Knutson: Yes Mayor it is. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay, alright. And Mr. McDonald seconded that. Is there any further discussion? Councilwoman Ryan moved, Councilman McDonald seconded that the City Council recommends that Mr. Knutson prepares a formal response to the email sent by Mr. Amorosi, direct staff to put on a work session agenda an item addressing mental health education, and to provide examples of what other cities are doing to address these issues. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Mayor Laufenburger: That motion carries 5-0. Is there any other council presentations at this time? ADMINISTRATIVE PRESENTATIONS. Mayor Laufenburger: Mr. Gerhardt any administrative presentations at this time? Todd Gerhardt: None at this time. I know we’re going to go back into work session and it’s getting late so nothing to add. Mayor Laufenburger: Okay. I’d accept a motion to adjourn. Councilman McDonald moved, Councilwoman Ryan seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. The City Council meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Submitted by Todd Gerhardt City Manager Prepared by Nann Opheim