07-23-08 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Fire Marshal Position Attachment C is information regarding modifications to our fire inspection program. Jim Lee has done a good job of' developing a work plan to govern the inspection program. Staff is also proposing that we make Jim a fulltime employee to provide the necessary staffing to enable attainment of this program. Our expectations are that all businesses would be inspected at least every two years, and higher risk concerns would be done annually. A very rough budget estimate (Attachment l)) projects and increased cost of almost $17,000 to fund a fulltime position (benefits account for much of this added cost.) While we are just getting started with the budget process, we would like to get a reaction to this initiative. We also have the opportunity to offset increased costs by starting a business licensing program. (Our goal would he to have a reasonable basic fee and to have higher reinspection fees to address properties that are less than timely in compliance.) Many cities have business licenses for this very purpose. Little Canada had one a number of years ago, but we discontinued it when we were spending more time process licenses and we were not performing on -going services. Other considerations that could be evaluated are the coordination with our multi - family licensing program or the possibility of contracting out services to another jurisdiction (Falcon Heights is already asking about this possibility.) However, my first concern is to not overburden our Fire Marshal to the detriment of our needs. Chamber Membership: Attachment E is a dues statement and letter for continuing our membership in the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce. We have not had a lot of direct benefit from this membership other than their attendance at a few ground breakings /grand openings. On the other hand, the annual fee is only $260 (if we don't pay the voluntary technology assessment). With the budget approaching, we wanted your thoughts as to our continuation with this membership. NE Utility Connections: Attachment F is the City Engineer's approximation of how water, sanitary sewer, and streets could be routed to address development in the NE quadrant of the City (Ritchie Place, Sculley Property, and Canadian Woods). Staff has met with Dave Himmelbach and Gerald Battista to talk about their interest in granting easements to facilitate these future improvements. We indicated in our correspondence (Attachment G) that we would defer the utility assessments until such time as the property develops (the assessments would accrue interest). While neither party has given us a definite answer, I am not hopeful that they will donate the land for the easements. It may be prudent to have the City Attorney meet with these property owners to discuss their willingness to participate in this process. (I recall during our interviews that this was an area Mr. Kelly has had past success in.) If we cannot negotiate a voluntary sale, other options may be necessary to ensure we can construct the needed utilities in time to avoid lift station construction. One other item of note related to this project is the circulation of a petition by Maplewood residents seeking to prevent us from building a connecting road from Ritchie Place to Kohlman Lane (as is depicted in L.ee Elfering's diagram.) While this street may not be constructed for a long time (Battista and Himmelbach would have a lot to say in that regard, I'm not sure they can prevent it given the 3