[0:02] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It
[0:04] is 5:30
[0:06] and I will call this regular meeting of
[0:08] the Burnsville City Council to order.
[0:11] It is our tradition to stand for a
[0:13] moment of silence followed by the pledge
[0:15] of allegiance and we invite you to join
[0:18] us.
[0:44] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[0:47] United States of America
[0:49] and to the Republic for which it stands,
[0:52] one nation under God, indivisible, with
[0:56] liberty and justice for all.
[1:06] » Welcome everyone.
[1:09] It's good to see our residents
[1:11] in the in chambers.
[1:14] We welcome everyone and also um
[1:19] members of our community can watch us on
[1:22] burnsvillemn.gov/meetings
[1:26] or Comcast channel 16 or 859. The public
[1:30] can also participate through Zoom
[1:34] by joining us at zoom.us/join.
[1:38] More information is available
[1:40] on our meetings webpage and in the
[1:43] council agenda packet.
[1:47] The first item on the agenda is
[1:48] announcements and a proclamation.
[1:51] Our announcements have to do with all of
[1:53] our upcoming meetings.
[1:55] Regular council meetings are scheduled
[1:57] for Tuesday, September 8th at 5:30 p.m.
[2:00] and Tuesday, September 22nd at 5:30 p.m.
[2:05] We have a work session that's scheduled
[2:07] for Tuesday, September 15th at 5:30 p.m.
[2:11] and we have a budget work session that's
[2:13] scheduled for Tuesday, September 8th at
[2:16] 6:00 p.m.
[2:17] » [snorts]
[2:17] >> and Tuesday, September 15th at 6:30 p.m.
[2:22] And we all
[2:24] And we have one uh proclamation, but all
[2:27] meetings of the city council are held
[2:29] here in the chambers unless I
[2:32] uh would announce a different location
[2:34] for a particular meeting.
[2:36] So, we have one proclamation this
[2:39] evening.
[2:53] Council members and members of the
[2:55] public and our staff, um today we have
[2:58] an overdose awareness week proclamation,
[3:02] August 25th through the 31st, 2026.
[3:06] Whereas, communities across the United
[3:09] States, including Burnsville, continue
[3:12] to suffer the devastating impact of
[3:15] overdose
[3:16] and fentanyl poisoning resulting in the
[3:19] tragic loss of life,
[3:21] trauma for families, and long-term
[3:24] community harm.
[3:26] And whereas, fentanyl, a powerful
[3:28] synthetic opioid, is involved in the
[3:31] majority of opioid overdose deaths and
[3:35] is often found in counterfeit pills and
[3:39] other substance without a person's
[3:41] knowledge.
[3:42] And whereas, Burnsville is committed to
[3:44] raising awareness, promoting prevention
[3:47] efforts,
[3:48] and supporting affected families and
[3:50] individuals with compassion and action.
[3:54] And whereas education, harm reduction,
[3:58] and accessible treatment are key to
[4:00] ending the opioid epidemic and saving
[4:04] lives in our communities.
[4:06] And whereas
[4:08] we resolve to play our part in reducing
[4:10] the toll of overdose in the community.
[4:14] Which claims the lives of more than 39
[4:16] Dakota County, Minnesota residents
[4:19] last year.
[4:22] Whereas we affirm that the people
[4:24] affected by overdose are our sons
[4:28] and daughters, our mothers and fathers,
[4:32] our brothers and sisters.
[4:35] And deserving of our love,
[4:38] compassion, and support.
[4:40] Now therefore, I Elizabeth Kautz, along
[4:43] with the City Council, do hereby
[4:45] proclaim August 25th through the 31st,
[4:49] 2026 as Overdose Awareness Week in
[4:53] Burnsville. And do hereby encourage all
[4:56] residents to learn, engage, and advocate
[5:00] for prevention, education, and support
[5:03] in honor of those we've lost
[5:06] and those still struggling.
[5:09] Proclaimed this 18th day of August,
[5:11] 2026.
[5:13] And um I understand that Mr. James
[5:17] Johnson Jr., the Opioid Prevention
[5:20] Coordinator for Dakota County Public
[5:22] Health uh
[5:24] is here to accept the uh proclamation.
[5:28] Mr. Johnson.
[5:31] Thank you for coming.
[5:33] >> Thank you, Mayor.
[5:34] >> Yeah.
[5:35] >> Turn around.
[5:45] » Okay.
[5:46] We'll take one with the council.
[6:00] » Absolutely.
[6:09] Quick change.
[6:10] >> How are you?
[6:12] >> Good to see you.
[6:12] >> Yeah. You've been working on this for a
[6:14] long time.
[6:15] >> We have. We have.
[6:16] >> Yeah. You had so many Thank you for all
[6:18] of the work that you put in today.
[6:19] >> Thank you for the support.
[6:20] >> Yeah.
[6:38] » [applause]
[6:44] [clears throat]
[6:47] » I just noticed that.
[7:04] » The city of Burnsville has been
[7:07] advocating
[7:09] and
[7:10] engaging and practicing
[7:14] civility, dignity,
[7:16] and respect.
[7:18] And so, we continue
[7:20] from now on
[7:22] to ensure that we remember
[7:24] that the Burnsville City Council is
[7:27] committed to respect in how we treat one
[7:30] another,
[7:31] treating people with compassion,
[7:33] kindness, and consideration, honoring
[7:36] human dignity in how we interact,
[7:39] recognize an inherent value of every
[7:42] person.
[7:44] Working together to serve the community,
[7:46] partnering to strengthen our community
[7:49] and advance the common good.
[7:51] And so,
[7:52] at the beginning of every citizen's
[7:54] comments,
[7:55] uh I will be reading this so that we can
[7:58] continue to focus on what is important
[8:00] to all of us here in our community.
[8:03] And so, the next item on the agenda is
[8:06] citizen's comments, and this is the
[8:08] opportunity for anyone
[8:11] um in the audience who wishes to address
[8:13] the council on an item that is not on
[8:15] the printed agenda and not an
[8:17] application form that's coming before us
[8:20] at a future date.
[8:21] And I have three people who have signed
[8:24] up to speak during citizen's comments,
[8:27] and uh the first one is Mr. Bruce Henry.
[8:30] Mr. Henry, the floor is yours.
[8:40] » Thank you, Mayor. Good to see you again
[8:42] and the council.
[8:44] Uh as you know, I was here in uh May to
[8:47] speak on a separate subject of city
[8:51] special assessment at Burnsville, the
[8:53] Real Life Cooperative. Well, in the in
[8:55] the process of doing that, I I walked the streets around where I
[9:01] live periodically, three, four times a
[9:03] week.
[9:04] As a I also walk around uh the property I live on, and I noticed
[9:11] one thing in May, or actually in
[9:15] February or March, it was on East
[9:18] Travelers Trail, by the apartment
[9:21] complex there, and I would like to pass
[9:23] this picture out to all the members of
[9:25] the city council to look at.
[9:31] » You could do that.
[9:53] » [snorts]
[10:04] » My foot traffic every might not be the
[10:06] best, but I think uh
[10:07] >> It's pretty good.
[10:08] >> quite fair what we have there.
[10:10] And the reason I addressed this, it
[10:13] looks like
[10:15] a problem waiting for
[10:17] something to happen with somebody. And I
[10:19] would not want the city and all its
[10:22] people here to have to pay for an
[10:24] accident or something. It just looks
[10:26] really bad.
[10:28] And I know when I was here and I talked
[10:29] about the special assessment that has to
[10:32] do with the maintenance of the streets
[10:33] and everything around there. Well, this
[10:35] is an example to me that's something
[10:37] that needs attention. And I I decided to
[10:41] think about this for a while and I came
[10:42] up with a solution. I don't know if it
[10:44] would
[10:45] be something you guys could implement or
[10:47] whatever is periodically maybe the
[10:50] council or the mayor or anyone else walk
[10:53] the streets. Cuz I just wonder when
[10:55] looking at this whether or not there's
[10:58] other conditions in the street that fall
[11:00] under this thing.
[11:02] problem. And I'm sure that is not the
[11:05] only isolated ones. I've lived in large
[11:07] cities. I lived in Southern California
[11:10] for a long time and I would walk the
[11:12] streets and look for things like that.
[11:14] Because uh
[11:15] especially in the wintertime and it's
[11:16] been there since February.
[11:19] And this is almost September.
[11:21] And I'm just kind of curious
[11:24] whether or not you have a group of people that go out and look
[11:28] for things like this and and try to
[11:30] repair them on the spot. Yeah, I know
[11:33] it's probably included in your
[11:35] yearly budget. So, and uh
[11:38] I'm really glad to see some of my fellow
[11:40] co-op members here. And the ladies that
[11:43] follow is going to speak to another
[11:44] thing, but I just would really like to
[11:47] see our streets maintained a little bit
[11:49] better so we don't have problems like
[11:52] this.
[11:53] Cuz I'm not When I walk, I'm not the
[11:55] steadiest person in the world. And it
[11:57] could have been me, it could have been
[11:58] anybody. And uh so, that's that's really
[12:02] all I want to say but I do want to give
[12:04] you guys kudos
[12:06] for finally mowing the lawn on the path
[12:09] that's in our property. We were
[12:11] wondering for a while whether
[12:13] who is going to mow the lawn first, us
[12:15] or you guys. And finally I saw Well,
[12:18] yeah, one day I woke up and there the
[12:20] lawn there I heard it cuz it's right
[12:22] outside where my unit is. And so, I
[12:24] heard it and I was glad to see that. So,
[12:26] that's all I got to say. Thank you.
[12:28] >> Thank you. Our
[12:30] public works director is in the room and
[12:33] he
[12:36] Okay, thank you.
[12:37] Uh the next one is Rose Sullivan
[12:40] uh from Real Life as well.
[12:44] This is Sullivan, welcome.
[12:52] » Oh, good afternoon.
[12:54] >> Good afternoon and we did receive your letter.
[12:59] >> Right, okay. So, you all have You all
[13:00] have a copy of this. So, I'm going to
[13:02] read this letter but hopefully with my
[13:04] inflections and and some of that. And if
[13:07] you have any questions at the end, I'll
[13:08] be happy to answer them if you if you
[13:10] have any.
[13:11] Um I've read this so many times. We'll
[13:13] see how many words I trip on this time.
[13:17] Anyway, um
[13:18] my name is Rose Sullivan.
[13:21] I represent the Real Life Cooperative of
[13:23] Burnsville as well as the the
[13:25] Cooperative of Burnsville,
[13:27] and perhaps many other multi-family
[13:29] buildings in Burnsville
[13:31] where electricity and or natural gas is
[13:34] provided by group meters rather than
[13:37] individually.
[13:39] I am currently a member of the Real Life
[13:41] Cooperative of Burnsville and a past
[13:44] president of its Board of Directors.
[13:46] As we believe we are paying more than an
[13:49] equitable share in franchise fees,
[13:52] we would appreciate it if you would take
[13:54] another look at the current structure of
[13:56] the franchise fees and consider adding a
[13:59] residential multi-family category to the
[14:02] franchise fee structure
[14:04] to make them more consistent. [laughter]
[14:09] I'll use the Real Life Cooperative and
[14:11] Parkway Cooperative as a basis of my
[14:14] information, but there are other
[14:15] buildings that are probably set up the
[14:17] same way we are that would have the same
[14:20] kind of issues.
[14:23] There are two other cooperatives and
[14:24] many other multi- uh multi-unit
[14:26] buildings in Burnsville housing a large
[14:29] number of Burnsville residents and
[14:30] voters.
[14:32] So, just to give you a little
[14:33] background, I don't know if you're
[14:34] familiar with with uh cooperatives, but
[14:38] I'm going to I'm going to talk about
[14:39] cooperatives a little bit.
[14:42] >> [clears throat]
[14:42] >> The Real Life Cooperative of Burnsville
[14:44] opened in early 1996. It's built in '95,
[14:48] opened in '96
[14:50] as a not-for-profit cooperative
[14:52] corporation.
[14:54] It consists of 165,736
[14:58] sq ft and has 119 units. Big building.
[15:03] The Parkway Cooperative is also a
[15:06] not-for-profit cooperative corporation
[15:09] and it consists of 150,337
[15:13] sq ft and has 102 units.
[15:17] in both buildings are open to
[15:19] seniors 62 and older. And on the bottom
[15:22] of those letters it says 55, but that's
[15:25] old news. I happen to notice that those
[15:27] are That's an outdated at the bottom.
[15:30] HUD made us change.
[15:35] So, under the cooperative model, each
[15:37] member owner buys a share of the
[15:39] corporation
[15:41] and then signs an occupancy agreement
[15:43] for the specific unit in which they
[15:45] actually live.
[15:48] In addition, each member pays a monthly
[15:50] homeowners association fee, which
[15:53] includes their share of the co-op
[15:54] financial burden, such as the mortgage,
[15:57] taxes, insurance, common area
[16:00] electricity, natural gas, maintenance
[16:02] reserves, and so forth.
[16:04] >> [cough]
[16:07] [snorts]
[16:08] >> Each co-op member has their own
[16:09] electricity account with Dakota Electric
[16:12] at Real Life and with Xcel at Parkway
[16:16] and pays their own electric bill, which
[16:18] includes the $8 monthly franchise fee.
[16:23] In addition, each member contributes
[16:25] their share of the common area electric
[16:28] bill franchise fee,
[16:31] which [clears throat] comes out to an
[16:32] average of 67 cents each month for the
[16:35] people at Real Life. It's a little bit
[16:36] more than that. It's 78 cents a month
[16:39] for the people at um
[16:41] at Parkway
[16:42] cuz you're dividing by a smaller number,
[16:44] but it's the same initial charge. So,
[16:46] that's that's why there's a difference.
[16:50] » [clears throat]
[16:52] » Now, natural gas is different story.
[16:55] So, natural gas for the two buildings is
[16:58] provided by CenterPoint Energy,
[17:01] but co-op members do not have their own
[17:03] individual meters.
[17:06] Natural gas is provided under four
[17:09] commercial industrial
[17:12] sub accounts for each building and
[17:15] tracked through four meters, which
[17:17] service each entire complex.
[17:20] Both buildings are charged a franchise
[17:22] fee on all four of the sub accounts.
[17:26] $468
[17:28] a month on each of the first three sub
[17:30] accounts, and $80 a month on the fourth.
[17:34] So, in total for gas, each building pays
[17:36] a franchise fee per month of $1,484,
[17:42] or an average of $12.47
[17:45] per Real Life member, and $14.55
[17:49] for the the Parkway folks.
[17:52] These costs are rolled into the HOA
[17:54] charge, where each member pays each
[17:56] month to cover the cost of running the
[17:58] cooperative.
[18:00] So, in summary, each Real Life co-op
[18:02] member pays $21.14
[18:05] per month
[18:07] in franchise fees, 867 for electricity,
[18:11] 1247 for gas. Parkway, little different.
[18:16] 2333
[18:18] per month in franchise fee, 878 for
[18:21] electricity, and 1455
[18:23] for the gas.
[18:25] These amounts are 32% and 45% more than
[18:29] what a Burnsville single-family home
[18:31] resident pays at $16 a month.
[18:36] And each co-op member would typically
[18:38] use less of the utility resources than a
[18:41] single family would.
[18:44] And of course, we all know these are
[18:46] scheduled to go up a couple more times,
[18:48] so
[18:50] I've been on your franchise fee page a
[18:52] lot.
[18:54] >> [clears throat]
[18:55] >> I suspect that you haven't received much
[18:57] feedback on the gas franchise fees from
[19:00] buildings such as ours, because the
[19:02] average person in this type of building
[19:04] would have no reason to see a gas bill.
[19:08] In most cases, only the person who pays
[19:10] the bill, and perhaps a reviewer, would
[19:12] see it. I just happened to have a
[19:14] conversation with my property manager
[19:16] one day and tripped on it.
[19:18] So, that's why I'm here.
[19:21] As stated on the city website, when the
[19:24] city instituted franchise fees back in
[19:26] 2016,
[19:28] one of the pluses to going this route
[19:31] was to spread out costs to each property
[19:33] as equally as possible,
[19:36] to include churches and nonprofits.
[19:39] As I've just demonstrated, this is not
[19:41] how it worked out.
[19:43] Under the current franchise fee
[19:45] structure, many senior cooperative
[19:47] owners and other multi-family complexes
[19:50] are being charged considerably more than
[19:52] our neighbors who own or rent a regular
[19:54] home.
[19:56] This is an inequitable sharing of costs,
[19:59] and financially penalizes those who live
[20:01] in multi-family buildings, and it ought
[20:02] to be the other way around.
[20:07] The current franchise fee structure is
[20:09] shown in the attachment to this letter.
[20:12] There at the bottom of the page, you'll
[20:13] see the actual categories. Uh I got that
[20:16] from Alyssa when I came to see her a
[20:18] month or so ago.
[20:21] » [clears throat]
[20:22] >> In the natural gas category, please note
[20:25] that the franchise fee jumps from $80 a
[20:27] month to $468
[20:30] a month with no graduated amounts in
[20:32] between.
[20:34] Also note there is no category that
[20:36] addresses residential multi-family
[20:38] buildings at all.
[20:41] Perhaps a residential multi-family
[20:43] category could be added and be
[20:45] structured to make franchise fees more
[20:47] equitable.
[20:49] Thank you for your consideration of this
[20:51] request.
[20:52] And again, if you have any questions,
[20:54] I'll be happy to try to answer them.
[20:56] >> Thank you, Mrs. Sullivan.
[20:58] >> Mayor Madam Mayor,
[20:59] >> Yes.
[21:00] >> I just felt this was really well thought
[21:01] out. Thank you for taking the time to do
[21:04] this, and it It
[21:05] >> You're welcome.
[21:06] >> It gives you food for thought. It really
[21:07] does.
[21:08] >> Okay. Thank you.
[21:09] >> doing that.
[21:09] >> Yep.
[21:12] And the next uh
[21:14] speaker is um
[21:16] Mr. Gary Schuler.
[21:18] And it's on franchise fees as well.
[21:24] » Thank you, Mayor and city. Um
[21:28] Yeah, we do have an issue with the
[21:30] franchise fees as well. Uh it is
[21:33] [snorts] just it's a little out of hand,
[21:35] I believe.
[21:36] >> [clears throat]
[21:37] >> We have 76
[21:40] individuals living in uh our building
[21:44] um at $8
[21:46] for gas and then another $8 for
[21:48] electric. We each have our own meters.
[21:52] We're getting charged that. Comes to
[21:54] $1,216.
[21:56] Our main building gas is $468.
[22:01] Um times two
[22:03] and then another $80 bill.
[22:08] Our main electric, we have two
[22:11] meters also at $80 apiece just for
[22:14] franchise fees.
[22:16] This doesn't include the electric or the
[22:17] gas.
[22:20] We are paying
[22:22] in total of
[22:23] every month $2,392.
[22:30] Now, it's not a company or anything that
[22:33] is buying this or paying for it. It's 76
[22:37] people
[22:38] that live there. We
[22:40] are a cooperative also and we have an
[22:43] issue with each of us paying $31.47
[22:47] a month
[22:49] for franchise fees.
[22:51] I think this is a little out of hand.
[22:54] And this is every month, not not once a
[22:57] year.
[22:57] >> Okay.
[22:58] >> It's It's just out of hand. It should be
[23:01] not per account number.
[23:03] It should be per address.
[23:08] So, in other words, why are we getting
[23:10] just because we have more meters? Do we
[23:12] combine our meters to one?
[23:15] You know, it's just
[23:17] I think we're paying more than our fair
[23:19] share for individuals.
[23:22] Compared to anybody else. I mean,
[23:23] everybody else pays $8
[23:26] for gas, $8 for ga- electric, and then
[23:29] probably eight for cable.
[23:32] We pay $31
[23:35] and 47 cents.
[23:36] >> [snorts]
[23:38] >> And it's and it's a big concern to us
[23:40] with the price of fuel and everything
[23:42] going on. I mean, this is just
[23:44] nickel and diming us.
[23:47] It's it's we got to look into it.
[23:49] There's got to be something done
[23:49] differently.
[23:51] You know,
[23:53] I I I know it sounds like Burnsville has
[23:57] um
[23:58] cheap taxes or whatever,
[24:01] but they're getting it from somewhere
[24:02] else, and that's that's the individuals
[24:04] again.
[24:06] I think I think we this is not right.
[24:10] You could say it should be an address,
[24:13] not an account number.
[24:16] That's my thoughts.
[24:17] >> Thank you so much for coming in.
[24:19] >> into it, and we got to come up with
[24:21] something. This is just crazy.
[24:22] >> think um
[24:24] Mrs. Mrs. Ryan is [clears throat] in the
[24:26] back, and she's
[24:27] will be happy to to talk further with
[24:30] you, and I know that Mrs. Sullivan
[24:31] you've talked with Mrs. Ryan, and so but
[24:34] thank you so much for coming in and
[24:36] sharing your concerns.
[24:37] >> Thank you for listening.
[24:38] >> Yeah, thank you.
[24:40] Okay.
[24:41] With that,
[24:43] um
[24:45] is
[24:45] City Clerk um Collins is there anyone
[24:48] online?
[24:50] >> Mayor, no one online has asked to speak.
[24:52] >> Okay, thank you. So, that's all I have
[24:56] uh of who signed up to speak. Thank you
[24:58] so much for coming in and sharing your
[25:00] thoughts.
[25:01] Um
[25:02] working together,
[25:04] um
[25:05] we have a community that cares for one another and um
[25:10] will work together to how we solve
[25:12] problems.
[25:13] Thank you so much for coming in.
[25:16] Okay.
[25:17] The next item on the agenda is additions
[25:21] to the final agenda and this is for
[25:22] emergency items only.
[25:25] City City Manager Lindburg, are there
[25:28] any emergency items to come before the
[25:30] body?
[25:30] >> Nothing from staff, ma'am.
[25:31] >> Okay, thank you. Members of the council?
[25:34] Okay, we'll move on. The next item is
[25:36] the consent agenda. The consent agenda
[25:38] is a group of items that's considered to
[25:40] be routine and will be enacted by one
[25:42] motion. However, an item on the consent
[25:44] agenda can be removed for a separate
[25:46] discussion and vote. Is there anyone who
[25:49] wishes an item on the consent agenda to
[25:51] be removed for a separate discussion and
[25:53] vote?
[25:58] City Clerk Holladay, are there any one
[26:00] online who wishes an item to be removed?
[26:02] >> Here, no one has requested an item to
[26:04] [clears throat] be removed.
[26:06] >> City Manager Lindburg, does staff want
[26:08] an item to be removed for a separate
[26:10] discussion and vote?
[26:11] >> Not from staff, ma'am.
[26:12] >> Members of the council?
[26:14] >> No.
[26:14] >> If not, I would um
[26:16] like a motion to adopt the consent
[26:18] agenda, please.
[26:19] >> So moved.
[26:20] >> There's a motion.
[26:22] And a second? Okay.
[26:24] Uh uh
[26:25] All in favor, please say I.
[26:27] >> I.
[26:27] Opposed, say nay and the motion
[26:29] carries. There are no items on the
[26:32] regular agenda and a motion to adjourn
[26:34] is in order.
[26:35] >> Moved.
[26:35] >> Second.
[26:36] >> There's a motion and a second. All in
[26:37] favor, please say I.
[26:38] >> I.
[26:39] Opposed, say nay and the motion
[26:41] carries. Good night and thank you for
[26:43] being with us.