Mounds View City Councilman proposes at meeting

MOUNDS VIEW, Minn. (KMSP) - There have been plenty of proposals in front of the Mounds View City Council over the years, but none have been quite as romantic as the one from council member Al Hull earlier this month.

"I wanted to make it special. Something she'll remember, which I think I accomplished," said Hull.

About 50 minutes into the July 11 city council meeting Hull started talking about Lou Gehrig's iconic retirement speech after he was diagnosed with ALS.

Hull went on to say it wasn't until he was diagnosed a potentially devastating disease of his own, cancer of his blood plasma, grieved his father's death from lung cancer and he started dating his girlfriend Tasha Kimaiga that he understood the meaning of Gehrig's words.

"Ever since I met her I've been the luckiest guy in the world,” said Hull at the meeting. "She helped me through a lot of difficult times. She gave me the strength to carry on, to have a smile on my face and joke about it. You know what I mean. And I want to live the rest of my life with her as possibly my wife."

With that, Hull got up and walked to Kimaiga, who was one of only three people in the audience.

"I thought what's wrong with him? He's talking about baseball in the middle of the meeting,” said Kimaiga. "At the time, I was dumbfounded. ‘Is this really happening?’ I just didn't have a clue. I wasn't catching on actually."

In front of God and the city council, he dropped to one knee and popped the question.

"I was floored,” said Kimaiga. “I was completely shocked. We have talked about marriage off and on, but not now, maybe a couple of years from now. He really got me good."

The impromptu proposal drew plenty of applause and even a few tears.

"It was a total surprise. That's why so many people were crying. They were like I didn't know you were going to do this. It was amazing, beautiful. How come you didn't tell us?"
Tasha's response even made it into the official minutes of the meeting.

"Let the record reflect she said yes. Yeah. Let the minutes reflect," said Hull during the meeting.

Hull may have started his proposal talking about baseball, but in the end he hit a home run.

Hull and Kimaiga are planning to get married next June, but even though they got engaged at city hall their wedding will be at home.

As for Hull's cancer, he received radiation treatment and his prognosis is good.

The full meeting can be viewed online here. The proposal starts about 50 minutes in.