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Celebrating the public service of Russ Stark and declaring December 17, 2025 as Russ Stark Day in the City of Saint Paul.
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WHEREAS, Russ Stark has served the City of Saint Paul since 2008, beginning as the Ward 4 City Council Member (2008-2018)-including three and a half years as City Council President-and ending as Saint Paul Chief Resilience Officer in the Mayor Melvin Carter Administration (2018-2025); and
WHEREAS, thanks to Russ Stark’s civic leadership, the City of Saint Paul has moved leaps and bounds towards true sustainability during his tenure, including but not limited to the following accomplishments:
• Russ has developed one of the strongest Climate Action and Resilience Plans in the country;
• mapped the state’s first large-scale networked geothermal heating and cooling system now under construction at The Heights, a mixed-use development that will use no natural gas for heating buildings or water;
• secured Saint Paul’s place as one of 25 cities in the American Cities Climate Challenge, which provided the resources for creating the EV Spot Network: Evie, the country’s largest and only municipally-owned, renewably-powered electric carshare program, and a network of 70 public EV charging locations across Saint Paul and Minneapolis;
• deployed the State’s first all-electric fire engine, with a second on the way;
• worked with many stakeholders over a period of years to establish the City’s first citywide bike plan in 2015, which set the course for bike routes across the city, supported funding proposals, and ultimately supported the development of over 55 miles of new bikeways, including the completion of the Saint Paul Grand Rounds and the near completion of the Capital City Bikeway network downtown;
• created the Saint Paul Climate Justice Advisory Board to help ensure that the City policymakers are considering the needs of our most vulnerable populations and neighborhoods in designing climate actions;
• lowered speed limits on City streets to help reduce crashes and injuries and make walking and biking safer options;
• worked with Saint Paul Public Schools to establish a Safe Routes to School program that now includes at least thirteen school-specific plans making it safer for students to get to school;
• led the effort to develop the New West 7th Corridor concept to improve transit, street maintenance, and pedestrian safety on W. 7th;
• reduced the amount of parking developers are required to pay for and build, and eventually eliminated the requirement citywide, making Saint Paul a national leader in this area;
• partnered with Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi to build a new Dakota and Nature Interpretive Center and a joint land-management agreement;
• advanced Accessory Dwelling Units policy allowing higher density on single family lots;
• successfully advocated for significant investment in public transit, including the Gold Line, B Line, and coming G and H Lines;
• reduced greenhouse gas emissions caused by municipal buildings by 46% through energy efficiency and clean energy investments;
• recognized the energy efficiency and clean energy efforts of business and institutions via the Energize Saint Paul program;
• built the national award-winning stormwater and stacked green infrastructure system at Highland Bridge;
• built the new North End Community center, which is being heated and cooled by a geothermal energy system and will soon add rooftop solar; and
• leveraged over $50 million in State and Federal funds to accomplish all of the above; and
WHEREAS Russ’s legacy continues on into the future, as his work has also led to the building of the new Hamline-Midway Library with a geothermal heating and cooling system and rooftop solar; converting the Polar Bears and Primates buildings at Como Zoo from natural gas to efficient geothermal heating and cooling; and launching two new programs in fall 2025, Healthy Homes and Power of Home, that will help weatherize and transition away from fossil fuels the homes of low and moderate income homeowners; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED that the Saint Paul City Council declares December 17th, 2025 as Russ Stark Day in the City of Saint Paul.