05-07-2012 Council Work Session Minutes

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION May 7, 2012 APPROVED 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 4 DATE : May 7,2012 5 TIME STARTED : 5:30 p.m. 6 TIME ENDED : 8:45 p.m. 7 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Stoesz, O'Donnell, 8 Rafferty,Roeser and Mayor Reinert 9 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 10 11 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Community Development 12 Director Michael Grochala; Environmental Coordinator Marty Asleson; Finance Director 13 Al Rolek; Public Safety Director John Swenson; City Engineer Jason Wedel; City Clerk 14 Julie Bartell 15 1. City Application for Green Step Cities Program—Environmental Coordinator 16 Asleson explained the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program,that the city has been invited 17 to becomes an established city in the program, and introduced a student group from the 18 University of Minnesota to present information on the program. He also introduced 19 Phillip Muessig of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency who is the program 20 coordinator. 21 Piper Donlin,U of M Student and Lino Lakes resident, began the presentation. She •• %-.1 22 noted that the city's current practices have been examined and it appears that it is very 23 close to being a first step Green Step city. Another student then noted the best 24 management practices (BMP)that are already in place as well as those that could be done. 25 Another student explained the economic benefits of the BMPs. Another student then 26 compared where another Minnesota city(Hopkins) is at in their process to become a 27 Green Step City. One benefit of being involved is qualification for the assistance of an 28 intern. The program is completely voluntary and there are 43 cities in the program 29 currently. Mr. Asleson has agreed to serve as the coordinator for the city. 30 When the mayor asked for more information on what the city gains from participation, 31 the students noted recognition of what the city has done,the economic benefits they have 32 mentioned, extra resources and no financial cost implication. Mr. Asleson added that the 33 City's Environmental Board recommended that the request to participate be forwarded to 34 the city council for consideration. The mayor noted some concern about the resolution 35 being vague and that he would want to be certain about what a commitment to the 36 program would mean; he feels the council is very purposeful about their decisions. The 37 students recommended that the program website provides good information that may be 38 helpful. Program Coordinator Muessig further explained benefits of the program, 39 including assistance in documenting what cities are doing environmentally and providing 40 helpful information on practices. A council member noted concern that city staff is very 41 busy and this could mean additional duties and also the council needs to know this would 42 be a good fit for this city. 1