15 West Kellogg Blvd.

Saint Paul, MN 55102

City of Saint Paul

Minutes - Final

Legislative Hearings

Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer

Mai Vang, Hearing Coordinator

Joanna Zimny, Executive Assistant

legislativehearings@ci.stpaul.mn.us

651-266-8585

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

9:00 AM

Room 330 City Hall & Court House/Remote

10:00 a.m. Hearings

Special Tax Assessments

RLH TA 26-9

Ratifying the Appealed Special Tax Assessment for property at 2014

THIRD STREET EAST. (File No. J2601E, Assessment No. 268300)

Johnson

Sponsors:

Delete the assessment.

No one appeared

Moermond: this is a deletion because of the lack of documentation from the old

records.

Referred to the City Council due back on 6/3/2026

Staff Reports

SR 26-96

Review Request of Ratifying the Appealed Special Tax Assessment for

property at 601 ROSE AVENUE EAST adopted by Council on February

18, 2026 under File RLH AR 26-1. (File No. J2602TW, Assessment No.

268702)

Yang

Sponsors:

Delete the assessment. Layover to LH June 2, 2026 for staff to investigate any error on

part of RC.

Urjii Kalil, owner, appeared

[Moermond gives background of appeals process and how this is different than the

normal course of events/timeline]

Moermond: we’ll accept this one which hasn’t been sent to the County and talk about

it. I don’t know what we can do about the ones already certified to your taxes. I’d need

to see a demonstrable error and on whose part that was. We’ll try to sort that out

today.

Staff report by Supervisor Richard Kedrowski: I have very little on this, I have four

documents but I’m not sure how they correlate with the items today.

Moermond: a tall grass and weeds order sent out June 4, 2025. I also have contractor

photos.

Kedrowski: correct, I do have those.

Moermond: contractor took action June 27th. It was super tall grass. Tell me about

this situation.

Kalil: I visited the property a couple months before this incident and I didn’t see tall

grass at that time. After that, when I visited, everything was cut and I didn’t notice

anything. I think it is because of the mailing error. Notice was supposed to be sent to

my address, and the only way I found out about this is because I went to Ramsey

County to pay my taxes and I was able to find those bills. I had no idea about them

until 2 weeks ago.

Moermond: we’ll look more deeply into this. I’m going to recommend the one today get

deleted and the reason being that the City’s computer system that manages this

information went down, and we don’t know how long it will take to get the historic

records. I don’t know we can do anything about the ones already certified to the taxes.

The error was on the part of Ramsey County and their address in their tax records were

incorrect. When you purchased you gave the right information, but somehow there was

a miscommunication with taxes. This is really a Ramsey County property records

generated problem. My ideal thing would be we figure out a way for you to work with

Ramsey County since they made the mistake, but I would at the very least want to

connect you with the correct person. I’d like to look into that further. I’d also like to talk

with attorneys who work back and forth with the County. I’d like to continue this two

weeks on the agenda so I have a reminder to update the record on the OTHER two

assessments. You don’t need to come down town again.

Laid Over to the Legislative Hearings due back on 6/2/2026

11:00 a.m. Hearings

Summary & Vehicle Abatement Orders

RLH SAO

26-46

Appeal of Gary Grimes to a Vehicle Abatement Order at 314 WYOMING

STREET EAST.

Noecker

Sponsors:

Grant to June 5, 2026 for compliance.

Gary Grimes, owner, appeared via phone

[Zimny gives background of appeals process]

Staff report by Supervisor Richard Kedrowski: a Vehicle Abatement Order was issued

for the property on May 7, 2026 for 2 cars and one trailer. The cars both have severely

expired tabs. The cargo trailer had expired plates also. Also that was parked on an

unapproved surface. This appeal was filed before any enforcement action was taken.

Grimes: the trailer has one tire on the grass. It isn’t the whole trailer, correct?

Kedrowski: that is correct but if any portion of the vehicle or trailer is on an unpaved

area then it isn’t allowed.

Grimes: ok.

Zimny: sounds like that may be an easy fix.

Grimes: I already got the tabs for that. I try to keep up on those every year. The

Chrysler I got from a friend and I’ve been trying to do the repairs on it so I can get it

running again and get rid of it and put money towards my taxes on the place. The guy

renting there now doesn’t take care of the property at all. Not the house or the grass. I

stopped by the other day when I went to do the appeal, I told him to cut the grass. I’m

crippled but I do the grass at my house. It is a foot and a half tall, it is ridiculous. I

have to get this guy out. He hasn’t paid rent in quite a while now. I’ve known him 37

years. I can’t afford to take care of him and his girlfriend.

Zimny: it sounds like this is a rental property. Are both those vehicles your tenants?

Grimes: one, the blue truck is the tenant’s.

Zimny: and the white one is the one your fixing.

Grimes: right I just am trying to find the title on the darn thing so I can get it in my

name and get insurance.

Zimny: is there a garage you can move it into? Until you get things straightened away?

Grimes: no, unfortunately not. I was going to move it out to my son in law’s.

Zimny: does it run that you can do that?

Grimes: no, he was going to tow it.

Zimny: you have a lot going on. I see there’s some back taxes, sounds like you’re

aware of trying to take care of.

Grimes: yeah, I’m just getting no money at all. I am slowly putting money on my taxes.

Zimny: sounds like the trailer is an easy fix; you have to get it all on an approved

surface and you have the tabs?

Grimes: yes.

Zimny: the blue ford is your tenant’s. have you talked to them about a timeline on tabs

for that?

Grimes: yes I talked to him. It almost sounds like he’s giving the darn thing back so

I’ll have to buy tabs for it. He never paid me for the darn thing. Then he piled all that

junk in the thing too. There’s stuff piled outside too.

Zimny: it is good you’re aware and on him about it. We don’t have current orders on

that so, take care of it before you do. Mr. Kedrowski could you talk about a manager’s

tow and options he may have there?

Kedrowski: as an owner you have the right to have a vehicle removed from your

property if you don’t want it there; if a tenant won’t take an action on a property all you

need to do is call a towing company and they would be happy to come take it away at

no cost as a manger’s tow. They hold the vehicle for value and if not redeemed they

can keep it and do what they want after a certain period of time. The white Chrysler is

missing a complete front end, it isn’t operable and needs to be removed if not stored in

the garage.

Zimny: that sounds like it may be a good option for one and/or both of the cars.

Grimes: ok, yes.

Zimny: that brings us to a timeline. Your original deadline was April 14th. How long do

you think you need to get this squared away and taken care of?

Grimes: a couple of weeks? I have good days and bad days with my health.

Zimny: we have a holiday in there too. Does June 5th sound doable? That would be two

and a half weeks.

Grimes: yeah, that’s doable.

Kedrowski: just a note that the white Chrysler can be handled the same way, even if

he’s trying to get title. He could do a managers tow for that as well.

Zimny: it sounds like that may be a good option, especially if it is hard to get there. I

will send this to Council June 3rd with the June 5th recommendation. An inspector will

swing by the following week and see if things are done, otherwise we will have another

conversation then.

Referred to the City Council due back on 6/3/2026

Making Finding on Nuisance Abatements

RLH SAO 26-47

Making finding on the appealed of Victor Thao to a nuisance abatement

ordered for 685 VAN BUREN AVENUE in Council File RLH SAO 26-30.

Bowie

Sponsors:

The nuisance is abated and the matter resolved.

Moermond: the nuisance is abated and the matter resolved.

Referred to the City Council due back on 5/20/2026