02-13-08 Council Workshop Minutes

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 13, 2008 under the formula change, with the other contracting cities seeing decreases. The Administrator explained the formula change components in detail. He also indicated that he has asked the Sheriff for the numbers he is utilizing in his calculations, and anticipates that he will have this information shortly. The Council discussed the fact that Little Canada is allocated many calls for service given the fact that it is intersected by 35E and has 694, Highway 36, and Rice Street abutting its borders. This traffic is merely passing through Little Canada on its way to other cities. However, if a stop occurs within the Little Canada borders, Little Canada is charged for this call. McGraw felt that there should be some factor added to the formula which relieves Little Canada of some of this burden. The City Administrator pointed out that this is an issue that should be factored into Local Government Aid. He noted the other contracting jurisdictions will be unwilling to pay these costs on behalf of Little Canada. It was also noted that the City has checked with the Cities of Maplewood and Roseville relative to their providing police protection to Little Canada. The Administrator indicated that it was not economically feasible at the time, and he did not feel there would be any change to that outcome. The Administrator felt that Little Canada has been the benefactor of the current cost allocation formula, but indicated that he will push for either a modification of the proposed formula or a more favorable phase-in of the increase. The Administrator noted that should Multi-Family Licensing be put in place and Little Canada reduces its calls for service, the impact of that should be a reduction in policing costs. TRAFFIC The City Administrator noted that an additional traffic car was put on CAR to help control local traffic increases resulting from the Unweave the Weave project. The Administrator noted that given the freeway project is winding down, local traffic impacts should subside. He asked if the Council wanted to continue to incur the costs of this second traffic car. The Administrator noted that the great benefit of this second traffic car is its visibility in the City. The Administrator indicated that the other contracting cities also acknowledge the visibility that this second car provides. At this point, the Council supported retaining the second traffic car and indicated that additional review of this matter would occur at budget time. 5