10-24-2016 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION October 3, 2016 DRAFT 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 1 MINUTES 2 3 DATE : October 3, 2016 4 TIME STARTED : 6:00 p.m. 5 TIME ENDED : 7:55 p.m. 6 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Rafferty, Kusterman, 7 Maher, Manthey and Mayor Reinert 8 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 9 10 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Community Development 11 Director Grochala; City Planner Katie Larsen; City Clerk Julie Bartell. 12 13 Kolstad Septic System v. City of Lino Lakes: Mayor Reinert introduced Jeff Kolstad 14 and State Representative Linda Runbeck. The mayor said this is a matter that he’d like 15 the council to discuss prior to beginning the regular work session agenda. He explained 16 that a property has a septic issue requiring system replacement. State law apparently 17 dictates who can do that work (it must be a professional or a property owner). He 18 understands that the City has chosen to interpret the state law to say that, in the case of 19 this property and this project, Mr. Kolstad’s 78 year-old dad must be on the bobcat doing 20 this replacement. The mayor said he is calling for discussion of the matter. 21 22 Representative Linda Runbeck added that she believes the key to state law is to avoid 23 having an unauthorized/unlicensed contractor involved but if you handle it as a property 24 owner that would seem to be okay. 25 26 Administrator Karlson explained that he has reviewed the situation with staff (including 27 the city’s building inspector). They reviewed state law and how the city interprets that 28 “property owner” within that law means the person who controls the property. It’s 29 actually quite unusual for a property owner to ask for this permission – it’s most often 30 done by a licensed contractor. In this case the work was begun by the family members 31 (including Jeff Kolstad) and an inspection by the city did occur. It was found that the 32 work was not being done by the property owner and it wasn’t being completed properly 33 and as well the proper equipment wasn’t being used. 34 35 Community Development Director Grochala explained that there has been an amended 36 design submitted. He added that it is most important that the system installed is correct 37 and safe. Normally a licensed installer must do the work but there is an exception for 38 owner installation. He noted state law. He suggested that in this case it is a nephew 39 doing the work. Mr. Grochala added that the house will be put up for sale and a new 40 owner should be able to trust the system put in place. 41 42 Mayor Reinert concurred that the system must be correct. He is aware that the Kolstad’s 43 have been paying taxes in the city for more than forty years and have not asked for much. 44 The mayor said there are apparently three things that have turned up wrong and that 45