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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION <br />CITY OF RAMSEY <br />ANOKA COUNTY <br />STATE OF MINNESOTA <br />The Ramsey City Council conducted a City Council Work Session on Monday, August 10, 2026, <br />at the Ramsey Municipal Center, 7550 Sunwood Drive NW, Ramsey, Minnesota. <br />Members Present: <br />Mayor Ryan Heineman (Remote) <br />Councilmember Kirsten Buscher <br />Councilmember Michael Olson <br />Councilmember Eric Peters <br />Councilmember Chris Riley <br />Councilmember Dan Specht <br />Also Present: City Administrator Brian Hagen <br />1. CALL TO ORDER <br />Acting Mayor Riley called the City Council Work Session to order at 5:30 p.m. <br />2. TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION <br />2.01: Wage Theft & Project Labor Requirements <br />Councilmember Buscher introduced Mr. Tim Watkins, representing the Fair Contracting <br />Foundation, who continued the Council's previous discussion on labor standards for City - <br />supported construction projects, presenting examples of prevailing -wage and responsible - <br />contracting policies adopted by other municipalities. He explained that a key policy decision would <br />be determining which City funding sources and projects should be covered. Using Andover as an <br />example, he noted that its prevailing wage requirements generally apply to public works projects <br />when the city is a party to the construction contract, but not to tax increment financing projects <br />unless the city is directly involved. He also noted Andover's $150,000 project threshold and <br />Ramsey's previous discussion of a possible $175,000 threshold corresponding to competitive <br />bidding requirements. <br />Councilmember Buscher explained that the purpose of the work session was to determine whether <br />sufficient Council consensus existed to direct staff to develop a labor standards policy for future <br />consideration. She identified potential provisions, including prevailing wage requirements, a <br />policy similar to Andover's ordinance, a project -dollar threshold, a TIF clawback provision, and <br />apprenticeship requirements. She emphasized that the Council was not expected to finalize a policy <br />that evening, but rather to identify provisions that staff could develop further. <br />Mr. Watkins considered Andover's prevailing wage ordinance a reasonable model for Ramsey and <br />noted that Coon Rapids uses a similar approach. He contrasted this with Bloomington's broader <br />ordinance, which applies to numerous forms of City financial assistance and uses a $175,000 total <br />City Council Work Session / August 10, 2026 <br />Page 1 of 5 <br />