Eagan council names acting mayor, designates Pioneer Press as legal newspaper and sets 2025 meeting schedule

The Eagan City Council on Jan. 21 completed routine organizational business for 2025, taking several unanimous voice votes to adopt procedural and administrative items required by state law and city practice.

Minnesota state statute requires a council to designate an acting mayor; the council appointed Councilmember Fields as acting mayor for 2025. The council also designated the Saint Paul Pioneer Press as the city's official legal newspaper for required public notices; that paper has served in that role for the past five years, staff said.

The council authorized Old National Bank and U.S. Bank Trust as the city's depositories and approved the proposed regular and special city council meeting dates for 2025. Staff noted two meeting conflicts (National Night Out in August and Veterans Day in November) and those meetings were scheduled for the prior Monday in each case.

Council members also voted to acknowledge Robert's Rules of Order as the procedure for council meetings, to approve the council's public-participation guidelines and to formally ratify the practice that at least two council members must request placement of an item on an upcoming agenda.

Finally the council approved the list of council standing committee, advisory commission and intergovernmental appointments for 2025. No public objections were raised during the consent or organizational agenda items.

Why it matters: these items fulfill state and local procedural requirements and set the administrative framework for council business and public notice in 2025. The acting-mayor appointment ensures an official to preside over meetings when the mayor is absent; the legal newspaper designation determines where required legal notices will be published.