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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCMin_04Sep22 CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS MINUTES September 22, 2004 Mayor Gehrz called the regular Council meeting to order. PRESENT: Mayor Sue Gehrz, Council members Laura Kuettel, Robert Lamb, Peter Lindstrom and Richard Talbot Also present: City Administrator Heather Worthington and Deputy Clerk Mary Shea Kodluboy COMMUNITY FORUM: There was no commentary from the audience. PRESENTATIONS: None Scheduled. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Council minutes dated September 8, 2004 were unanimously approved as submitted. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None Scheduled CONSENT AGENDA: Kuettel moved approval of the Consent Agenda, as outlined below. The motion was unanimously approved. General Disbursements through September 16, 2004: $ 109,846.59 Payroll (09/01/04-09/15/04): $ 12,142.50 Adoption of Resolution 2004-18 appointing election judges for the General Election on November 2, 2004 POLICY AGENDA: Mayor Gehrz said there were two additions to this evening’s Policy Agenda: Item H3: Special meeting at Falcon Heights Elementary School, and Item H4: Extension of moratorium on bus bench installation. Consideration of Ramsey County hazard mitigation planning resolution Administrator Worthington said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is requiring all counties and cities to adopt an All Hazards Mitigation Plan by mid-October, and submit that plan to the State of Minnesota by November 1. The City will be able to adopt the County’s plan by reference, thereby ensuring that Falcon Heights is utilizing the same plan as other communities. This also saves staff time and resources that would otherwise be unnecessarily expended on the development of our own plan. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -2- September 22, 2004 Consideration of Ramsey County hazard mitigation planning resolution (continued) Administrator Worthington said the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA) requires counties and communities to have a Mitigation Plan to receive disaster funds whether from a tornado, flood or terrorist event. The Act “reinforces the importance of mitigation planning in both pre and post-disaster situations, and emphasizes planning for disasters before they occur.” The Ramsey County Emergency Management/Homeland Security is asking each municipality in the County to adopt a resolution indicating their desire to participate in the Hazard Mitigation Planning Process. Council member Kuettel commented that she was thankful the County will be doing this rather than having each municipality reinvent the wheel. RESOLUTION 2004-19 Talbot moved adoption of Resolution 2004-19 authorizing the City’s participation with Ramsey County in the Hazard Mitigation Planning Process. The motion was unanimously approved. Consideration of the 2005 SCORE grant Administrator Worthington said the Council is being asked to authorize the Mayor and Administrator to sign the 2005 SCORE recycling grant contract from Ramsey County and adopt a resolution. The City has participated in this program for many years. This year’s grant is for $10,667.00. RESOLUTION 2004-20 Kuettel moved adoption of Resolution 2004-20 approving the City’s participation in the recycling grant contract from Ramsey County and authorizing Mayor Gehrz and Administrator Worthington to sign the 2005 SCORE Grant and enter into an agreement with Ramsey County for funding. The motion was unanimously approved. Special meeting at Falcon Heights Elementary School Council member Lindstrom said that at the Council’s goal setting session in June, the Council decided to hold a Council meeting at the Falcon Heights Elementary School. In conjunction with Kids Voting, a community service project of the Roseville Rotary Club, he is proposing that the Council hold a special Council meeting, during the day, at Falcon Heights Elementary School. Two or three teachers are interested in having their classes participate. The Council will need to decide on the agenda and which day is best for this event. The special meeting would not replace the traditional Wednesday night City Council meetings. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -3- September 22, 2004 Special meeting at Falcon Heights Elementary School (continued) Council member Lindstrom said that he hoped the meeting would be interactive, with the Council talking about real issues affecting the City and leaving time for questions. General discussion followed. Potential discussion items mentioned by Council members: Playground equipment for Falcon Heights Elementary School – City has budgeted $15,000. Capital programs around the school. Recreational programs – expansion of recreational activities between the City and the elementary school on the school grounds Bike safety Emergency preparedness – public safety – Fire Department Electronic access Structure of government – Commissions of the City and their missions Elections – kids voting Purchase of 800 MHz radios Council member Lamb recommended there be some backup items. Have three or four items to talk about, and three or four items the Council can talk about in case there is a big lag. Council member Kuettel recommended that the meeting be held either during mid-morning or mid-afternoon, 45-50 minutes in length. She suggested that discussion of each item be short and visuals be utilized. In response to a query from Council member Lamb about whether or not the classes could come to City Hall, Council member Kuettel said that would add 45 minutes to an hour. City buses could be utilized and would be cheaper than renting school buses. Mayor Gehrz suggested the meeting be held on Tuesday, October 26, around 9:30 or 10:00 AM. Extension of moratorium on bus bench installation Administrator Worthington said that in May of this year, the Council enacted a moratorium on the installation of any new bus benches in the city, pending a re-writing of the city’s zoning code with regard to bus benches and their location on City or County rights of way. Staff is requesting a one-month extension of this moratorium, to November 24th, in order to allow more time to study the issue, and prepare a recommendation for council consideration. Kuettel moved approval of the extension of the moratorium on new bus bench installations within the City, on City or County rights of way, to November 24, 2004. The motion was unanimously approved. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -4- September 22, 2004 REPORTS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS: None INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mayor Gehrz said there won’t be a Council workshop in October because there will be three City Council meetings in October. Neither she nor Administrator Worthington has any Council workshop topics for November and December, and she invited the Council to suggest topics they would like to have a workshop on. Otherwise, there won’t be any workshops for the remainder of 2004. She gave a brief description of a press conference held at Regions Hospital earlier in the month to publicize September as Emergency Preparedness Month, and expressed thanks to three Falcon Heights CERT graduates who accompanied her to the event: Kris Grangaard, Jim Evans and Roger Aiken. There are over 600 volunteers in Minnesota and the media was very interested, but the event wasn’t publicized on the major channels. Gretel Keane, a Falcon Heights CERT graduate and trainer, is undergoing training at Atlanta, Georgia for debris management prior to being assigned to assist with hurricane cleanup. There are two more CERT graduates from Falcon Heights waiting to be contacted by FEMA. She said that on September 11, the City held an emergency preparedness tabletop exercise at City Hall and it was the first opportunity for the CERT graduates to work alongside City staff, the fire and police departments, and County emergency management personnel. Of the 50 CERT graduates, 22 were in attendance. She gave a brief description of the exercise and said that on Saturday morning, October 2, there will be an actual emergency preparedness exercise in the City. In 2005, the City will be offering more CERT training. Administrator Worthington said that with regard to the SE Corner project, 24 of the 56 units in the Senior Building are leased, with 12 units now occupied. A community-wide open house will be held sometime in October. The multi-family building is approximately 40% complete, with completion planned for May-June, 2005. Construction of the town homes will begin after the multi-family building is completed. The streetlights that have been re-set will be painted after Ramsey County rehangs their signs on them. Attendance at the State Fair was down approximately 100,000 this year. Overall, things went smoothly in the City; however, there were some difficulties with the Snelling/Larpenteur intersection, as in past years. This year, one change was made to allow permit parking only in several areas near the State Fair property that are cul de sacs or dead end streets. Feedback will be requested from the residents in these areas as to whether or not to utilize permit parking again next year. Two residents from the Northome neighborhood have called and asked if the City could utilize permit parking in their area of the City next year. The City will be looking at this issue in the next few months, and residents are being encouraged to write, call or e-mail City Hall with their requests or ideas. The Northeast Quadrant Traffic Task Force concluded their meeting earlier this year and staff is completing the policy item they drafted, with the intention of having it on a Council agenda in November. The City Engineer has pulled together some traffic data for that neighborhood, and the Task Force will meet again in late October, early November, to look at the data and determine the next steps. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -5- September 22, 2004 INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (continued) Deputy Clerk Kodluboy gave the following voter turnout statistics for Falcon Heights for the State Primary held on September 14: Precinct 1 – City Hall Number of registered voters at 7:00 AM 1,811 Number of voters on September 14, 2004 161 or .0889% Precinct 2 – Falcon Heights Elementary School Number of registered voters at 7:00 AM 1,442 Number of voters on September 14, 2004 148 or .1026% Administrator Worthington reminded the viewing audience that the community cleanup will be held on Saturday, October 9, at the State Fairgrounds Camel lot. Residents have received a flyer with their address on it and should bring it and identification with them when they take the items they wish to dispose of to that site. Residents will be charged according to what they bring in. Council member Lamb reminded everyone to look around their neighborhood and see if they have neighbors who don’t have transportation, are elderly or infirm, who need to have items hauled to the cleanup disposal site. This is a good opportunity to clean the place up and help someone else to do the same. The regular City Council meeting was adjourned at 7:55 PM. Respectfully submitted, Mary Shea Kodluboy Deputy Clerk