St. Paul Council appointee to League of MN Cities missed 8 of 10 meetings

Not long after being elected to the St Paul City Council HwaJeong Kim was appointed as the capital city s representative to the League of Minnesota Cities the state s largest municipal membership association The organization brings together city leaders to discuss legislative bills salary surveys and employee hiring and retention strategies among other issues facing municipalities Kim who is the city council s vice president was sworn in as a voting member of the league s board of directors in February but missed the next month s meeting She has also missed almost every meeting since In all Kim has attended two of the league meetings held from February of last year through February of this year and none since April according to meeting minutes available online That s almost a solid consecutive year of monthly absences St Paul City Council Member Rebecca Noecker who became council president in February explained Kim had frequent scheduling conflicts and another council member will soon step into the role St Paul City Council vice-president HwaJeong Kim Ward listens to a speaker during a council meeting at St Paul City Hall on Wednesday April John Autey Pioneer Press We were in the past few days informed by the city of St Paul that councilmember Kim is no longer the city s representative to the league board due to specific reshuffling of committee assignments on their end noted Donald Reeder a spokesperson for the league in an April email We have not yet certified a replacement We also recognize that board members typically councilors mayors and administrative staff from a variety of cities wear countless hats in their own communities and often have scheduling conflicts that do not permit them to attend all meetings or league initiatives Reeder wrote Kim did not return a reporter s phone call and email on April and a follow-up phone call and email on May or a text message on May A receptionist at City Hall stated she does not work from the office on Mondays as the role is part-time City council attendance Kim s attendance at the regular weekly meetings of the city council has been more up and down but her frequent lateness and absences have not gone unnoticed by voters chosen of whom have noted her outside duties as the executive director of a get-out-the-vote organization So far this year from Jan through the end of April she has missed more than a fourth of the council s regularly-scheduled Wednesday afternoon meetings or four out of weekly voting sessions Kim who represents the Ward communities of Como and the North End was one of two council members absent from St Paul Mayor Melvin Carter s State of the City address on April even though it was held at the new North End Society Center a million rec center and society hub that opened last month within her own political ward I do know she really needed to be at the North End Public Center for the mayor s speech but she had a long-planned trip so they had the grand opening a meager days earlier and she was at that declared Amy Brendmoen a former city council president who previously represented Ward Kim was also absent from the city council meeting on April where a sizable line of Ward homeowners arrived to object to tree removal near Como Lake for a sidewalk project that will leave them shouldering assessments of or more It is a little frustrating that all of us took time off work and our council member isn t even here announced Osage street homeowner Nathan Rue addressing the council during the hearing We re just going to have to come back again Noecker explained to the line of homeowners that the citizens hearing will resume in early May by which time Kim whom she noted was out of the country on vacation would be there in person to hear their concerns Noecker assured them that Kim would also watch the video recording of their remarks I will be calling on you to step down For particular that wasn t good enough In a fresh email to the Ward office Parkview Avenue resident Jane Sommerville noted that Kim is the executive director of Minnesota Voice a progressive nonprofit dedicated to voter registration civic engagement and training public organizers While serving on the city council is officially a part-time job and nothing bars outside employment it s uncommon for council members to split their time doing something as time-consuming as running an outside organization The council position pays about annually It is unclear to me how you can maintain two jobs concurrently especially one as demanding as City Council Vice Chair wrote Sommerville in a latest email to Kim s office On Nov you attended a meeting at North Dale Recreation Center regarding the street project However you stood in the corner did not introduce yourself engage with your constituency answer questions nor appear to write down any questions It was quite unclear why you were even there Sommerville was one of four plaintiffs in an unsuccessful legal action against the city aimed at blocking tree removal from Parkview Avenue She noted that before the lawsuit was filed residents of the impacted area had reached out to the Ward council office by phone and email over the syllabus of several months Chosen neighbors received generic or templated responses from your office and a scant received emails from your staff Sommerville wrote No one received a response from you specifically Neighbors have invited you to come out and meet with us You have likewise not responded nor come to our block to meet with us I will be calling on you to step down in your role as City Council representative for Ward Sommerville added We deserve better Kim isn t alone in her council absences Last year she attended of the council s weekly meetings or about That still put her ahead of Council Member Anika Bowie who attended meetings Nelsie Yang attended meetings after a -week maternity leave The full council was together last year about of the time or not counting Yang s maternity leave Kim a former legislative aide to Brendmoen won the ballot to the Ward seat in November with votes or of the vote in a four-way race that included David Greenwood-Sanchez Pam Tollefson and Nate Nins St Paul has since moved to an even-year calendar for municipal elections shifting the next full council polling to November Related Articles Letters Let s not make it harder to learn Walz wrote A private school principal responds St Paul elections mayoral candidates citations question Ward race St Paul voters will weigh in this November on administrative citations Letters St Paul Council should delay vote on rent-control amendments St Paul chief finance officer John McCarthy leaves for League of MN Cities