Jan. 26, 2026 Shorewood Council Meeting 90 Second Facts

NOTE: Relevant links are at the end of this article.

SCA attends every City Council meeting so you don’t have to. The agenda this week seemed routine. As it turns out, matters from the floor were “zoom bombed” by three different men not shy about sharing racial epithets and other vitriol that shocked everyone present. But there’s more…

Let’s get to the simplified highlights of the council actions.

Financial: Accounts payable totaled $2,018,877

Besides ongoing payroll costs, the largest payments went to:

– U.S. Bank Trust (bond payments) $1,110.996
– Truist Government Finance (bond repayments) $427,897
– Magney Water Treatment $74,195
– Bolton & Menk (various engineering projects) $54,395
– NW Asphalt (Smithtown Rd) $19,307
– Republic Services (recycling) $15,507
– Met Council (sewer charges) $12,300
– SRF Consulting (Hwy 7 planning) $11,894

Notable Council Approvals:

1. Replace city hall office space carpet: Per the staff, the carpeting has reached the end of its life, is dirty and requires replacement to maintain a professional, safe, and accessible work environment. Anticipated cost: $29,965. Council member Sanschagrin voted against it.
2. Purchase a folding/insert machine: The machine costs about $11,000 and is expected to save the City roughly $5,000 per year by reducing vendor costs and staff time, yielding a return on investment in just over two years. DiGruttolo questioned the need for a high-end machine and voted against the purchase.

Matters from the Floor: Residents speak

Two Shorewood residents spoke about ICE. The first gave an emotional explanation of witnessing ICE agents from unmarked cars peering into windows of their neighbors’ home and photographing license plates on a neighboring property. Watch for SCA’s reporting on this incident.

During continued testimony on the Watten Pond 2nd Addition, two neighboring residents expressed ongoing frustration with the city’s process, which they say has prevented objections from being heard and have ignored existing development policies.

A regular topic at city council meetings are the Flock video surveillance cameras. A resident made an impassioned demand to remove the camera from the Hwy. 19/Smithtown Road intersection. A second speaker reminded the mayor that the ACLU stands firmly against Flock cameras and is currently involved in several lawsuits over their use.

The session turned nasty when three different callers Zoom-bombed the meeting using fake names and addresses (confirmed by SCA) and not showing their faces while spewing hate speech that targeted specific groups. The mayor and Administrator Nevinski appeared to be caught off guard, by not stopping the callers for violating virtual meeting rules, until the damage was done.

Presentations:

Two representatives from MnDOT gave a detailed presentation about the current progress of the Hwy 7 redesign from Christmas Lake Road to St. Boni.

Other discussion:

Council members debated whether to issue a community impact statement on ICE activity. Their options ranged from no action to a values statement, resolution, and/or ordinance. Sanschagrin shared an Orono statement as a good example for informing residents. He asked the council to consider a similar approach.

Lt. O’Keefe of South Lake Police reported five ICE-related calls to date. He said the department neither assists nor interferes with ICE operations and urged residents to call 9-1-1 when feeling harassed or unsafe. He assured the council that officers respond to all calls, without discrimination, and have no special procedures for ICE-related situations at this time.

Labadie said she hesitated to do anything first without hearing from other cities in the police contract. Sanschagrin and DiGruttolo encouraged taking the lead pushing for the values statement and a resolution. Both are to be passed after review by SLMPD. Labadie agreed.

That’s 595 words. Check below for related links and share with your neighbors on social media!

Next City Council meeting: Feb. 9, 2026. We’ll be watching.

Related Links:

City Council Meeting Jan. 26, 2026 (watch it any time)
Public Background-Packet for this meeting (read it)
Definition of Zoom-bomb
Virtual meeting rules
MnDOT Presentation video and slide presentation starting at min 00:41:35
A Few Loud Voices
Watten Pond 2nd Addition
More info about Watten Pond 2nd Addition
Shorewood’s Planning Department Aberration