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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/09/2009LAUDERDALE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Lauderdale City Hall 1,891 Walnut Street Lauderdale, MN 55113 Page 1 of 4 June 9, 2009 Mayor Dains called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in Lauderdale Community Park. Councilors present: Karen Doherty, Clay Christensen, Lara Mac Lean, Denise Hawkinson, and Mayor Jeff Dains. Staff present: Heather Butl,owski, City Administrator; Jim Bownik, Assistant to the City Administrator. The Mayor said the meeting was called to discuss issues of safety and noise in the park as council members recently heard of these issues from residents. Since learning of the issues, the Mayor said he requested increased foot patrol by the police officers and the Council discussed signage for the park. Captain Cotroneo addressed the group. He said officers perform foot patrol in the park, multiple times during their shifts. Officers have spoken to individuals being loud or disruptive in any way. The Captain said the users often aren't aware they are being disruptive. He also noted there were three calls to the park between May 1 and September 31 of last year, so don't be afraid to call 911 to dispatch a police officer to the park., Dan Murphy of Carl Street suggested a task force may be useful to address these issues. Numerous residents mentioned how happy they were to see the park being used. Some" residents shared stories about proactively notifying park users of their offensive behavior and park rules. They felt this communication went a long way in solving the problems. Sara Nelson of Carl Street felt that any new signage displayed should be written from a positive perspective telling users what behavior is expected as opposed to saying what is not allowed. Jeb Singer of Carl Street said he regularly plays basketball with all the groups that come to the park. He said they are great to play with and changed their behavior once they realized they were bothering people. is Other residents mentioned an obligation to make park users aware of the rules so the park can be a pleasant place for everyone. The Mayor thanked everyone for their input. Staff reminded all present that virtually any of the park facilities could be reserved through City Hall. LAUDERDALE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Lauderdale City Hall 1891 Walnut Street Lauderdale, MN 55113 Page 2 of 4 The work session ended at 7:40 p.m. The council meeting reconvened at City Hall at 8:00 p.m. Mayor Dains asked for changes to the meeting agenda. There being none, Councilor Hawkinson moved to approve the agenda. Councilor Mac Lean seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Councilor Christensen moved approval of the May 26, 2009, City Council meeting minutes. Councilor Mac Lean seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Mayor Dains asked the councilors if they had questions regarding the claims. There being none, Councilor Hawkinson moved approval of the claims totaling $77,123.24. Councilor Doherty seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Mayor Dains asked if members of the public wished to address the Council. Larry Lambert, 1803 Eustis Street, asked what would be done after 60 days to his neighbors `if' they were still running a home-based business. Butkowski responded that the response would be at the discretion of the city attorney. Mayor Dains asked if councilors wished to remove items from the consent agenda. There being none, Councilor Hawkinson moved the consent agenda approving the recreation agreement with the City of Roseville as distributed during the meeting, renewing the JPA with Ramsey County for the collection of recycling fees, and accepting the donation from the Lauderdale - Falcon Heights Lions for Music under the Trees. Councilor Mac Lean seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Bownik reported on the June 15 Music under the Trees event. Residents were encouraged to bring blankets and chairs for a performance by the Fairlanes. Schwan's agreed to provide treats for the event. Butkowski introduced the animal ordinance. Staff alerted the Council to the State's implementation of a dangerous dog law that trumps the language the Council adopted prior. Additionally, the last ordinance update left some ambiguity to the keeping of animals like chickens, which has become popular in urban areas. Staff said the Council may want to consider these issues if the ordinance is revisited. Councilor Hawkinson mentioned the number of dog owners who use the park for off -leash training and exercise activities. She recently realized that the animal control ordinance does not allow for off -leash dogs in the park. She questioned whether the City may want to change this ordinance as the dogs are controlled by voice command and she hasn't known of any issues. I LAUDERDALE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Lauderdale City Hall 1891 Walnut Street Lauderdale, MN 55113 Page 3 of 4 The councilors discussed the issue recognizing pros and cons to allowing off -leash dogs in the park. Concern was expressed over both children and adults that fear or have an aversion to dogs. The Mayor suggested the councilors interested in allowing off -leash dogs at the park bring back a recommendation to the full council. Butkowski introduced the police contract proposal. St. Anthony now proposes a two-year contract with two percent increases for 2010 and 2011. This proposal has no opt out provisions as had been discussed prior. Councilor Doherty asked whether the City had the reserves to cover the contract in case general fund came up short due to the loss in local government aid. Butkowski replied'that the City's first option would be to transfer money from the general capital improvement''` and the park improvement funds to the general fund as the money in those accounts was discretionary. Councilor Mac Lean moved to approve the 2010-2011 police contract as presented. Councilor Doherty seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Mayor Dains informed the police officers present that he was happy to enter into the agreement and looked forward to working with the police into the future. Butkowski said the city engineer updated the stormwater management ordinance and this was the first time the Council was viewing it. The ordinance revisions are a requirement of the City's Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program. The ordinance defines a project disturbing more than one acre of land triggers a stormwater pollution prevention plan.. Additionally, the standards for the ordinance will be the City's Local Surface Water Management Plan as well as state and regional standards that are adopted by reference The adoption by reference eliminates the need to continually update the ordinance'�when standards are revised. As the Council had no further comments, the ordinance will be sent to the city attorney for review prior to adoption. Butkowski noted that council member Mac Lean had previously inquired about staff's job descriptions and said that is something that staff had been working on. For this council meeting, staff asked the Council to consider revising the deputy clerk job description. Butkowski explained the job description matched what staff felt someone could accomplish in 20-24 hours per week. LAUDERDALE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Lauderdale City Hall 1891 Walnut Street Lauderdale, MN 55113 Page 4 of 4 Councilor Christensen moved to approve the deputy clerk job description as presented. Councilor Hawkinson seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Councilor Hawkinson moved to approve the appointment of C. Callahan as deputy clerk as presented in the packet. Councilor Mac Lean seconded the motion. The Mayor asked if there were additional comments. Butkowski said the proposed offer letter in the packet contained an error. She referred the council members to a cost analysis for the position that was handed out during the meeting. Butkowski recommended the Council make the employment offer to Callahan based on the union agreement but provide credit for the time she already worked for the City (step 2). Councilor Doherty offered a friendly amendment to the motion on the table. She moved to change the hourly wage of $20.09 presented in the employment letter to $19.77 as per the union contract. Councilor Christensen seconded the motion and it passed with councilors Mac Lean, Hawkinson, Doherty, and Christensen voting yes and Mayor Dains abstaining. There being no further business on the council agenda, Councilor Christensen moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilor Hawkinson seconded the motion and it carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Heather Butkowski City Administrator