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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda 4.15.19CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Regular Meeting of the Falcon Heights - Community Engagement Commission City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue AGENDA April 15 at 7:00 P.M. A. CALL TO ORDER: B. ROLL CALL: Reider ___ May___ Kohn___ Johnson___ Larrabee___ King___ Stegman ____ COUNCIL LIAISON Gustafson___ STAFF PRESENT: Lor___ C. Approval of Minutes: March 25, 2019 D. DISCUSSION 1.Spring Together a. Activities b.Table Runner c.Door Knocking 2.Neighborhood Liaisons 3. 2018 Community Survey E. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENTS a.Minnesota Open Meeting Law - Email - Meeting F. ADJOURNMENT: CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Regular Meeting of the Falcon Heights - Community Engagement Commission City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue AGENDA March 25 at 7:00 P.M. A. CALL TO ORDER: B. ROLL CALL: Reider _X__ May_X__ Kohn_X__ Johnson_X__ Larrabee_X__ King_X__ Stegman _X___ COUNCIL LIAISON Gustafson_X__ STAFF PRESENT: Lor_X__ C. Approval of Minutes: January 28, 2019 • A spelling error on page 2. King 1st Moved Larrabee 2nd Moved Approved 7-0 D. DISCUSSION 1. Spring Together • Flyer #1 received majority of the vote and Staff will edit the address and create an event on Facebook. • Will discuss activities in April’s meeting. • CEC Table/Informational – Staff will get the table runner and cloth. CEC voted for 36” runner and moved the “(CEC)” to a new line and center. Staff will provide a picture in the next meeting. 2. Neighborhood Liaisons • Dena sent emails to liaisons and staff mailed letters to liaisons that do not have an email address. • Twelve responded yes, 18 answered no and 53 did not respond. Staff will follow up next week. • Rick met Kris and was told that there are liaisons at 1550 Larpenteur and CTC. The Fry apartment does not have any liaisons. • Apartment residents move in and out of the city, and it will be hard to track it down. Should we ask the caretaker/manager on site to be a liaison? • How to recruit more? Put it on E-news with a small summary and bullet points. • The city needs to have a quarterly event for liaisons. • Create a neighborhood event tab on city website - this will help create community connection and conversations. • Rick, Julie, and Katie will work together on neighborhood liaison introduction for E-news. 3. Neighborhood Watch Program • Neighborhood Liaison/Block Captain/Watch all focus on community building. • CEC would like the roles to be separate and have clear goals. • The budget impact will be $75 per signs, and total estimate amount will be $2,500. Falcon Heights will have 32 signs. • CEC moved to support the neighborhood watch program as an aspect of engagement and not just the signs. 4. Youth Programs • City Administrator wants youth programs to revolve around “Cultivating a Caring Community” and would like CEC to brainstorm ideas. • Examples: mural, Rec on the Go, and summer programs. The city would like to bring reading time at City Hall green space, kickball tournament at ICS, sports equipment shed at Curtiss field • CEC want to see more winter events, door knocking with youth, and art programs. E. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENTS • On Friday, the city sent out the weekly newsletter with March 27’s agenda packet. Councilmember Gustafson will be appointed as mayor. F. ADJOURNMENT: 8:45PM Kohn 1st Moved King 2nd Moved Approved 7-0 ________________________________ Shirley Reider, Commission Chair Dated this 25th day of March, 2019 ___________________________________ Amanda Lor, Staff Liaison ITEM FOR DISCUSSION Families, Fields and Fair __________________________ The City That Soars! Item Spring Together Description Community Engagement Commission plan for upcoming event. •Activities •Table Runner •Door Knocking Budget Impact $200 - $300 (snacks, water, table runner, table cloth, plates, utensils, activities) Attachment(s) •Table Runner Action(s) Requested Discuss and make recommendation for staff Meeting Date April 15, 2019 Agenda Item Discussion D1 Attachment NA Submitted By Amanda Lor - Staff ITEM FOR DISCUSSION Families, Fields and Fair __________________________ The City That Soars! Item Neighborhood Liaisons Description Community Engagement Commission members Rick, Katie, and Julie met and draft an introduction for staff to put it on weekly E-newsletter and social media. Budget Impact NA Attachment(s) •Draft Introduction Action(s) Requested Discuss the draft and provide suggestions. Meeting Date April 15, 2019 Agenda Item Discussion D2 Attachment - Submitted By Amanda Lor - Staff Neighborhood Liaisons Summary Julie Stegman, Katie Kohn and I met on March 28 about the Neighborhood Liaisons program to develop a short summary and main points of what liaisons do, to be used in recruiting more of them. It could go in the City’s newsletter and be used in other ways. Why do we have Neighborhood Liaisons? To connect residents of Falcon Heights’ neighborhoods in a more localized way with the city’s Community Engagement Commission. This is to more effectively cultivate a caring community by attending to relationships. Here is a first draft of the list of what Liaisons do: •Welcome new residents; •Promote neighborhood meetings and/or block parties; •Be a connector and communicator between the City Council and the neighborhood, through the CEC. ITEM FOR DISCUSSION Families, Fields and Fair __________________________ The City That Soars! Item 2018 Community Survey Description Community Engagement Commission review the 2018 Community Survey final report Executive Summary and have a short discussion about the findings. Budget Impact NA Attachment(s) •2018 Community Survey final report Executive Summary Action(s) Requested Discuss the findings and make recommendation for staff. Meeting Date April 15, 2019 Agenda Item Discussion D3 Attachment - Submitted By Amanda Lor - Staff COMMUNITY SURVEY 2018 Executive Summary This report documents the findings and results of a city-wide survey commissioned by the Falcon Heights City Council. The survey was sent out summer of 2018. In addition, web links to the survey were provided in the weekly Falcon Heights Newsletter sent out between August 24, 2018 and September 28, 2018. The City sent out 2,254 surveys and 439 completed it: 258 completed the paper version of the survey, and 181 completed the online or web version of the survey. The purpose of the survey is to create a baseline to conduct a comparative analysis of services, amenities, and health of the community. The City intends to conduct a community survey every two years. The data collected will assist the City Council and Staff to develop, modify, or adjust business operations. The vast majority of participants report that they have lived in Falcon Heights for numerous years. Over 75% of participants reported having lived in the city for at least six years. Most participants also plan to stay in the city for an extended period, as over 65% reported planning to live in the city for at least seven years. Participants overwhelmingly rate the quality of life as great or good in Falcon Heights. Over 93% reported the quality of life as good or better with 53% of participants reporting it as excellent and 40% as good. Most participants reported at least one thing that made them proud to live in the city. Proximity or closeness to services, work, other cities, and other amenities along with a sense of a connected community and friendly neighbors ranked very closely as the top two things about the city that make people proud. Page 1 of 34 COMMUNITY SURVEY 2018 Participants were also asked about city and neighborhood resources and events. Familiarity with a neighborhood liaison was identified as an area for city improvement with almost 60% of participants being unaware of whether their block had a neighborhood liaison. Many participants in the city had attended their neighborhood block party in the past year with just under half reporting they had attended. Of all city-sponsored events in the past two years, the neighborhood block party was also the most frequently attended followed by the Ice Cream Social. Participants report being relatively aware of how to contact neighbors with over 93% reporting that they know the name and how to contact their next door neighbor and over 83% reporting that they know the name and how to contact the neighbor across the street or hall. There was room for improvement in this area as only approximately 60% reported knowing the name and how to contact a neighbor on the other side of the alley or block. Public safety remains a concern for most participants filling out the survey. Automobile break-ins, speeding, and burglary or theft were the top three issues identified as the most significant public safety concern among participants. Level of patrolling appears to be an issue among a substantial number of participants with approximately one-third reporting the level of patrolling to be not enough, although 51% reported about the right amount. Among those rating law enforcement services as Fair or Poor, approximately thirty people also stated their rationale for Fair or Poor is not seeing as many patrols in their neighborhood as in previous years. Overall scores for specific city services were relatively high. Over 76% of participants rated each of the six identified services as at least good. Fire Services ranked the highest with over 96% of participants rating their satisfaction as at least good. Code Enforcement ranked the lowest with over 76% of participants rating their satisfaction as at least good. The most Page 2 of 34 COMMUNITY SURVEY 2018 cited opportunities for improvement among the six city service areas were in increased police patrols or visibility, increased enforcement of crime during the State Fair, increased enforcement of speeding violations, attention to potholes, specific issues related to streets, inconsistent code enforcement, and issues related to cats. Participants were also asked whether the city had too few, too many, or the right amount of a host of eleven options. Participants think overall that the city has about the right amount of options with a need for additional assisted living for seniors, trails, and bikeways. Participants most frequently cited seeking outside funding as their preferred method for addressing potential budget shortfalls. Raising taxes was cited as the next most preferred method, and slightly fewer residents preferred a combination of seeking outside funding, raising taxes, and cutting services. Participants also mentioned other specific ideas for consideration with the top three being some version of financial compensation from the State Fair, merging with another city, or sharing more services with other cities. Participants were very thoughtful in listing ideas for improving the city throughout the survey and particularly in listing ideas for improving inclusivity. The top four ideas for improving inclusivity related to: •finding ways to increase the amount of housing, particularly affordable housing, •coming up with more ways to engage youth, hard to reach populations, renters, lower-income residents, and others •having more frequent city or neighborhood gatherings •continuing to do what the city is already doing Related to more frequent gatherings was the idea of having public events in different parts of the city, outside, at the elementary school, etc. Numerous participants also alerted the city to an interest in volunteering for community events and provided valuable insights into Page 3 of 34 COMMUNITY SURVEY 2018 their style of engagement. Over 73% of participants also reported feeling at least somewhat connected in the city with just under 17% feeling neither connected nor disconnected, and only under 10% feeling somewhat disconnected or very disconnected. An additional area of inquiry for the survey related to city condition and appearance, the value of city services, and satisfaction with city leadership and staff. Over 90% of participants rated the general condition and appearance of the city as good or better with areas of improvement cited as medians on or near Snelling and Larpenteur Avenues and the need for better aesthetics or flowers on public properties. Just under 78% of participants rated the general value of city services as good or better with the primary area for improvement cited as lowering taxes. Just over 79% of participants rated their approval with city leadership (Mayor and City Council) as good or better. The primary areas for improvement among those citing it as Fair or Poor were in the handling of the Philando Castile shooting, the perception of taxes being too high, and City Leadership. Just under 83% of participants rated their approval with city staff as good or better. The primary area for improvement among those citing it as Fair or Poor was in need for more timely communication in response to inquiries. Methodology Population Residents of Falcon Heights were sent this survey to their home address identified by city staff. In addition, the survey was advertised through city social media outlets, summer 2018 city newsletter, word-of-mouth, council and commission meetings, the city website, and through weekly references in the city’s Friday weekly newsletter e-mails. Throughout Page 4 of 34