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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCMin_05Apr27CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS MINUTES April 27, 2005 Mayor Gehrz convened the regular City Council meeting at 7:00 PM. PRESENT: Mayor Sue Gehrz, Council members Laura Kuettel, Robert Lamb, Peter Lindstrom and Richard Talbot Also present: City Administrator Heather Worthington and Parks and Public Works Director Greg Hoag COMMUNITY FORUM: There was no commentary from the audience. PRESENTATIONS: None Scheduled APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Council member Kuettel said that on page one, first paragraph, second sentence, the name Ann should be changed to Lisa. The minutes dated April 13, 2005 were unanimously approved as corrected. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None Scheduled CONSENT AGENDA: Mr. Bryan Olson, 1592 Roselawn Avenue, asked about the last item in General Disbursements in the amount of $175.00 to Campbell Knutson for SE Corner sign issues. He asked Administrator Worthington for background on what this was for and how the $175.00 was arrived at. Administrator Worthington said this was for the review of sign permits for the SE Corner. The City’s Civil Attorney firm reviews planning and zoning for the City and advised on the sign permit applications submitted for the SE Corner. The $175.00 is based upon the hourly rate for that individual. Mr. Olson asked how many hours the $175.00 represents and Administrator Worthington said about one and one-half hours. This item was part of the larger civil contract for that month but was broken out so that it could be correctly accounted for. Mr. Olson noted that the Deputy Clerk was not in attendance and he wanted to know who would be writing up the minutes. Administrator Worthington said the Deputy Clerk would be writing them up from the videotape. Mayor Gehrz said there had been a death in the Deputy Clerk’s family, which is why she is not in attendance this evening. Mr. Olson asked about the credit card statement included in the agenda packet. There is a billing for Ole Mexico and the explanation given is staff luncheon. He asked who attended the luncheon and if there was any business conducted there. Administrator Worthington said that Parks and Public Works Director Hoag, Employment Consultant Lisa Lynn and she discussed the hiring of a Recreation Supervisor/Administra ive Assistant at that meeting. Reimbursement for expenditures like this is requested only when City business is discussed. Mr. Olson read aloud the heading for Consent Agenda Item #3 and asked if this isn’t a decision to be made by the Council as to who gets to be the Data Practices Compliance Official, as opposed to this soon to be motion whereby the City Administrator will take on this responsibility. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -2- April 27, 2005 CONSENT AGENDA (continued) Mr. Olson said that usually it’s the Clerk who handles this because the Clerk deals with the records and the Clerk is a full-time position. Sometimes the City Administrator or a City Manager may not always be in the office. Mayor Gehrz said that the City has always designated the City Administrator as the City Official on this issue. This is a position that needs to make decisions about what is public data and what is private data. This is in the interests of balancing the public’s right to know government information with protection of the individual, because government gets and maintains information about individuals and there is a need to be able to protect individual information. All of the data privacy deals with that. It is always the City’s highest level employee who is assigned to that responsibility. Mr. Olson asked if there is a document that has City policies in black and white that is available. Mayor Gehrz said the City has a code book and administrative manual. In response to a question from Mr. Olson about operating rules for City Council meetings, Mayor Gehrz said they are in the administrative manual. Kuettel moved approval of the Consent Agenda, as outlined below. The motion was unanimously approved. General Disbursements through April 21, 2005: $ 99,311.44 Payroll (4/01/05 – 4/15/05) $ 13,253.92 2. Approval of 3.2 malt liquor and restaurant licenses for Sky Ventures to operate a Pizza Hut restaurant at 1544 Larpenteur Avenue West 3. Resolution 2005-04-adoption of model policy regarding data practices and appointment of City Administrator as the Data Practices Compliance Official Mayor Gehrz said an item came in after the Council packet was prepared and distributed on Friday that needs Council discussion and action this evening. She asked if any Council members objected to this addendum. There were no objections from the Council and Policy Agenda Item H3: Authorize Mayor to accept invitation from University of Minnesota Vice President for University Relations was added to the Council agenda. Authorization of expenditure to repair sanitary sewer lift station Parks and Public Works Director Hoag said the sanitary sewer lift station at the corner of Coffman and Larpenteur is 20 years old. It has performed very well for many years. During the past six months we have been experiencing fairly regular problems with one of the lift station pumps. Due to the age of the pumps and advancements in technology, staff is recommending replacement of both pumps at this time to help ensure many years of service from the lift station. In addition, some electrical upgrades will be made. Staff is proposing a switch from single phase pumps to three phase pumps because three phase motors are more reliable and efficient than single phase motors. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -3- April 27, 2005 Authorization of expenditure to repair sanitary sewer lift station (continued) Parks and Public Works Director Hoag said two quotes were received for this work: Braun Pump & Controls: $11,204.50 General Repair Service: $ 9,286.00 Staff recommends that the City enter into a contract with General Repair and Service. A brief discussion followed. Council member Kuettel asked if the two bids that had been received were comparable to one another and Parks and Public Works Director Hoag said they are. The pumps that would be installed by General Repair are comparable in value to those proposed by Braun Pump. Kuettel moved authorization to repair the sanitary sewer lift station through a contract with General Repair Service in the amount of $9,286.00. The motion was unanimously approved. Authorize contract with forester Administrator Worthington said that Anita Twaroski, the City’s forester, has been offered more hours with the City of Roseville. Therefore, she will not be working for the City this year, but has recommended a replacement. Mandy Musielewicz, owner of Vernix Forestry Consultants, has agreed to contract with the City for forestry services for 2005. Mandy will be compensated at the rate of $35.00 per hour, and will conduct approximately 142 hours of consultation in the areas of detection, identification, laboratory sampling, systematic reporting and other items or procedures that may be necessary in order to carry out the Shade Tree Disease Program. This will be covered by the line item in the 2005 Budget for forestry salaries. Typically, activities of the forester revolve around detection and identification of tree diseases like Dutch Elm or Oak Wilt, and structural problems with trees on public and private property. Mandy will not office at City Hall; however, City staff will coordinate with residents who require services, and communicate several times per week via e-mail and fax with Mandy. She will set her own schedule regarding meetings with residents and follow-up. City staff will send correspondence necessary to tree disease mitigation to residents at Mandy’s direction. Mayor Gehrz asked about mileage reimbursement and Administrator Worthington said it will be paid only when she is working within the boundaries of the City. Talbot moved approval of a contract with Mandy Musielewicz, DBA Vernix Forestry Consultants, for the 2005 Shade Tree Disease Program. The motion was unanimously approved. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -4- April 27, 2005 Authorize Mayor to accept invitation Mayor Gehrz said the University of Minnesota owns almost half of the land in Falcon Heights and maintaining frequent communication with the university administration is essential to the City’s continued ability to work cooperatively with this large institution on land use issues of concern to our residents and businesses. The new Vice President for University Relations has invited the mayor and a guest to a dinner and speaker on campus on May 10 at the University's expense. She is requesting authorization from the City Council to accept this invitation on behalf of Falcon Heights.   Council member Kuettel said she wanted to comment that it is truly important for the Mayor to attend something like this to remind the University of Minnesota that the City is next door. Council member Lamb said he is assuming that the reason the Mayor is asking for City Council approval is because of the rules barring anyone on the Council from accepting anything of monetary value, including meals. That is why it is necessary to make this motion for City Council approval. Mayor Gehrz said that without City Council approval, she cannot accept an invitation for dinner at the University, unless she is giving a speech, and she has not been asked to give a speech at this event. Mr. Bryan Olson, 1592 Roselawn Avenue, asked if the University is charging admission for dinner and the speaker. What is the admission? Mayor Gehrz said she did not know. She said the letter of invitation simply invites her to be a guest at this dinner in celebration of the 101st anniversary of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. Generally, with something like this they sometimes invite some selected guests to be their guests, for example, those mayors who represent cities where the University has campuses. The event will be open to the public, with dinner at Coffman and continued celebration at Northrop. DNN anchor Aaron Brown will be the keynote speaker. Lamb moved approval to authorize Mayor Gehrz and a guest to attend the May 10th dinner and speaker as a guest of the University of Minnesota Vice President for University Relations in celebration of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s 101st anniversary. The motion was unanimously approved. REPORTS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS: None INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Council member Talbot said that for years the City had the company and faithful participation of Phil and Shirley Chenoweth. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -5- April 27, 2005 INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (continued) Council member Talbot said that last week Shirley Chenoweth passed away and was laid to rest. Phil preceded her in death by six short months. Both of them were pillars of the community. Shirley came to the City in 1978 and was hired as a secretary. By the 1980’s she was promoted to City Clerk and continued to serve in that capacity until she retired in 1994. Council member Talbot said that when he and his wife came to Falcon Heights fifteen years ago, it was surprising, and really wonderful to both of them, to be called by their first names when they came to City Hall. That was part of Shirley’s approach to everything. She made you feel like your hometown was a place where they knew you by your first name and cared about you. Phil served on the City Council and got Council member Gibson Talbot involved and to run for City Council as well. Shirley served all of the members of the community as the City Clerk and she will be much missed. Shirley was friendly, competent, kind, generous, caring and giving. It is a real loss to no longer have Phil or Shirley participating in Falcon Heights City government. At the same time, it is something to be celebrated that we had them as long as we did. So, our condolences to the Chenoweth family and the City of Falcon Heights. It is a little bit sad to say goodbye to Phil and Shirley Chenoweth. Council member Lindstrom said that last week some of the members of the community and 15-20 members of the general public toured the new multi-family apartment complex at the SE Corner. He was very amazed at how beautiful the building is on the inside. It is fantastic. He was very impressed by the quality of the work. The senior building is equally nice. He was told that the majority of the people who live in the senior building were and still are Falcon Heights residents. That is exactly what the City Council was thinking about when authorizing the building of that complex. The new apartments will be ready for occupancy in the next few weeks and months. He would move there in a heartbeat and would love to have the corner apartment overlooking Snelling and Larpenteur. Council member Kuettel said she wanted to piggyback on what Council member Lindstrom said. The student population at Falcon Heights Elementary School is going down. The hope is that with seniors moving out of their homes and into the senior building, families will be moving in. She mentioned that in the May issue of the Park Bugle there is a huge article about Tatum Street lore and she hopes everyone will read the article about some of the things that occurred years ago on Tatum Street. She said she wanted to publicly thank the Lions for their support of the Falcon Heights Elementary School and its annual carnival. Once again they purchased the syrup and the cups, and donated the machine for the snow cones. The school made over $8,000 from the carnival. Also, the City and the Lions have donated money toward the purchase and replacement of the playground equipment at the school. Council member Lamb said he wanted to mention the Living Green Expo that will be at the State Fairgrounds this weekend, April 30-May 1, from 1 AM-5 PM in the grandstand building. Admission is free. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -6- April 27, 2005 INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (continued) Council member Lamb said the 2005 Living Green Expo will feature over 200 businesses, food organizations, State and local agencies, and environmental groups showcasing environmentally sound products, technologies, information and practices. There will be many ideas for how Minnesotans can reduce their environmental impact. The Expo will also include workshops. The family friendly event features art displays, children’s activities, food and musical entertainment. Check out their web site at livinggreen.org. Mayor Gehrz read a letter from Mr. Kurt Mueller, TIF Division, State Auditor’s Office, in which he stated he did his periodic review of the City’s TIF plans to determine if the TIF plan budget amounts agreed with the amounts submitted by the City on the 2003 TIF reports. He found the City’s reporting to be accurate for its active districts. She reminded the viewing audience there is still time to sign up for the CERT training program, which will be held on eight consecutive Thursday evenings, beginning May 5, 2005, at 6:30 PM. Right now seventeen people have signed up, thirteen from Falcon Heights and four from Lauderdale. The cost is $15.00. A meeting was held at City Hall on April 18 with Jerry Hammer, Executive Director of the State Fairgrounds, and residents were able to speak directly with Jerry about the State Fair. About 40 people attended the meeting and everyone learned a lot about the future plans for improvements to entrances and transit areas. Most of the people in attendance had a lot of compliments for the State Fair, particularly with regard to traffic management and control. She gave a brief update regarding the future construction of the Bell Museum on the southwest corner of Larpenteur and Cleveland Avenues. She and Administrator Worthington attended a meeting with architects, University facilities management people and Dan Soler, Traffic Engineer with Ramsey County. This was an opportunity to do some very, very preliminary discussion. They are in a fundraising phase and will need to raise a lot of money. They are hoping to be able to be a model and demonstration site for sustainability with regard to energy and sewer systems, etc. There was good discussion about pedestrian safety and crosswalk issues, parking and site location. It was wonderful to be included in the process because the City was able to identify things that will work well and things that will need careful consideration. There will be a community wide informational meeting scheduled within the next few months, possibly in June. They won’t have a building design or concept plan to present, but they will be able to talk with the community about their goals and programmatic concepts. She said she wanted to express her appreciation to County Commissioners Janice Rettman and Jan Wiessner with regard to the issue of consolidated dispatch centers for public safety. Ramsey County has been working on the 800 MHz conversion for public safety communications. One of the issues that needed to be resolved was the number of dispatch centers for Ramsey County. Currently there are four, and there are some real advantages to merging them into one dispatch center that will serve the whole county. It looks like there is strong interest in doing that, but what happened at the County Board meeting on Tuesday, April 26, was a proposal to shift the cost of the dispatch centers off the municipal tax base onto the County tax base. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -7- April 27, 2005 INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (continued) Mayor Gehrz said that would result in a major tax shift that would affect cities like Falcon Heights more so than some other cities. It would shift about $6 million a year off the City of Saint Paul onto the County tax levy. Saint Paul has 71% of the dispatch calls and only 44% of the tax base. There is some real shifting of costs here. The reason she wanted to express appreciation to Commissioners Rettmann and Wiessner was because they fought very, very, very hard to keep open some other possibilities for looking at financing options. Unfortunately, their efforts failed on a 5-2 vote. The next time residents see either of them, thank them for trying so hard. The City will continue to work on this and will be negotiating with the County, but she feels that based upon the vote that was taken, there probably won’t be a lot of room for other alternatives. Administrator Worthington told the viewing audience that the DNR has lifted burn restrictions for the metro area so if residents want to have a recreational fire in the backyard, just call City Hall and staff will take the information down. There is no cost for a permit but the City wants to know where the fires will be so that nervous neighbors don’t call 911 thinking someone’s house is on fire. Road restrictions will be lifted next week. Farmer’s Market will open next Tuesday, May 3, in the Twin City Co-op’s rear parking lot, 2025 West Larpenteur Avenue. The regular City Council meeting was adjourned at 7:50 PM. Respectfully submitted, Mary Shea Kodluboy Deputy Clerk