03-22-2021 Council Work Session Minutes

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION APPROVED 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 4 DATE March 22, 2021 5 TIME STARTED 6:00 p.m. 6 TIME ENDED 6*25 p.m. 7 MEMBERS PRESENT Council Member Stoesz, Lyden, Ruhland, 8 Cavegn and Mayor Rafferty 9 MEMBERS ABSENT None 10 Staff members present: City Administrator Sarah Cotton; Community Development i 1 Director Michael Grochala; Director of Public Safety John Swenson; Public Services 12 Director Rick DeGardner; City Engineer Diane Hankee; City Clerk Julie Bartell 13 14 1. Blue Heron Days —Councilmember Stoesz noted interest in having a Blue Heron 15 Days event this year. In lieu of a festival centered at Lino Park, he's requesting 16 discussion of organizing a parade. He suggests setting up a committee to organize and he 17 is volunteering his services. He's aware of others in the community interested in serving 18 also. There could be some staff time involved but volunteers leading the effort. He has 19 discussed the matter with the League of Minnesota Cities and has learned that a COV1D 20 restriction compliance plan would be required. He is suspecting that other cities will be 21 looking at parade possibilities. 22 23 Mayor Rafferty noted that he's been hearing from community members who are anxious 24 to get out. He likes the idea of a celebration but understands that it needs to be an 25 appropriate situation. Another question arose about finding a site (city land adjacent to 26 the freeway?) for blow up rides, etc. Councilmember Stoesz remarked that his interest is 27 only in a parade. 28 29 Councilmember Cavegn asked staff to weigh in. Administrator Cotton noted that the 30 current Minnesota Executive Order has strict requirements and she struggles to see how a 31 parade fits into that. However she's heard from some other cities that are planning 32 events conditioned upon what restrictions are in place. She has spoken with Public 33 Services Director DeGardner about the possibility of a parade and staff time necessary; 34 there is no funding budgeted to staff an event but discussion can continue. 35 36 Public Safety Director Swenson noted that his department's role is to review the special 37 event details; in his experience there are generally City resources required to execute an 38 event such as a parade. He also noted that there is a neighborhood that gets "shut off' if 39 the road is closed and that's an issue that would need to be addressed as part of moving 40 forward; in the past staff has sought a solution through the Target property and that was 41 found to have challenges including the approval necessary from Target Corporation and 42 probably expenses that would have to be covered by the City. 43 7