Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/24/2007MINUTES OF THE LAUDERDALE CITY COUNCIL TUESDAY, JULY24, 2007 7.30 p.m. Lauderdale City Hall, 1891 Walnut Street Mayor Dains called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. and asked Administrator Heck to take the roll. Members present: Council members Karen Gill -Gerbig, Denise Hawkinson, Karen Doherty, Clay Christensen, and Mayor Dains. Also present were staff members Jim Bownik, Assistant to the City Administrator and Heather Butkowski, Deputy Clerk. Mayor Dains asked if there were any additions or deletions to the agenda. Administrator Heck requested adding three items to the agenda 1) acceptance of donated American Flags for City Hall — consent, 2) Roseville Area School's primary election reimbursement — discussion, and 3) Community meeting with the police department scheduled for July 25 - discussion. Mayor Dains asked to include the Tennis Courts in the special reports section. There being no further additions or deletions from the agenda, council member Doherty moved to approve the agenda. Motion seconded by council member Hawkinson and carried. Mayor Dains asked if there were any additions or corrections to the July 10, 2007, City Council minutes. There being no amendments to the minutes, council member Christensen moved approval. Council member Doherty seconded the motion and it carried. Mayor Dains asked if there were any questions on the claims. There being no questions, council member Hawkinson moved to approve the claims in the amount of $34,429.62. Council member Gill -Gerbig seconded the motion and it carried. Mayor Dains asked if anyone present wished to address the Council on issues not on the agenda. There being none, the Council took up consideration of the consent agenda. Mayor Dains asked if the Council wished to add or remove items from the consent agenda. There being no such motion, council member Christensen moved approval of the consent agenda approving the Request for Proposals to remove the social room floor and accepting the American Flags donated by Joyce Johnson. Council member Doherty seconded the motion and it carried. Bownik provided a review of Music Under the Trees held on July 16 in the Community Park. Bownik reported over 100 people listened to the Roseville Community Band. He indicated that based on the positive response and the number of people who attended, the event should be continued next year with shows in June and July. Bownik then provided an announcement for Day in the Park, Lauderdale's annual summer celebration. The event is held on the third Saturday of August. The event starts with a parade at 4 p.m. and continues with food and games until 7 p.m. Bownik said that children may arrive at the park an hour early and get assistance decorating their bikes to ride in the parade. He said the new event this year is a fun run, called Loop Lauderdale. He said the run is being organized by Mark Krug. - 1 - The Mayor took a moment to comment on the completion of the tennis and basketball courts at the Community Park. He said it was a 19 -year process and two former members of the Park Committee, Mary Croteau and Nora Gille, deserve special recognition for their efforts to get the tennis courts repaired. The Mayor also thanked others involved with making the project a reality. The Council moved to the discussion items. John Thein, Superintendent of the Roseville Area Schools (RAS), addressed the Council with a request to have the City run the Lauderdale precinct in the upcoming school board primary election. He said RAS is required to run the election and would like to use the city's existing infrastructure to assist in the process. He said RAS would reimburse the City for costs and disbursements related to the primary election. Council member Gill -Gerbig moved to provide assistance to RAS for the September 2007 primary with the District providing reimbursement to the City. Council member Hawkinson seconded the motion and it carried. Mayor Dains asked Heck to provide background on the speed limit and speed bump item. Heck said a few meetings prior a resident came to the Council with a concern about speeding on residential streets, specifically his block on Malvern. The resident suggested installing removable speed bumps as a speeding deterrent. At that time, the Council also suggested lowering the speed limit from 30 to 25 on residential streets. Heck said he obtained information from the City Attorney, City Engineer and Police Chief. Heck informed the Council there are speed bumps and speed humps. He explained the difference in the design and indicated if the Council wants to consider this type of structure, a speed hump is recommended over a speed bump due to safety concerns for bikers and motorcycles as well as emergency response vehicles. Heck said both types of structures are held to the road by spikes or bolts that leave holes in the street and with the freeze thaw in Minnesota, there is the potential for road damage. Heck said a resolution will suffice to lower the speed limit to 25 mph on streets the City has authority over. The City is responsible for installing speed limit signs. Heck indicated it is the recommendation of the engineer and staff to conduct a speed study to assess the nature of the problem and suggested several methods to accomplish this. Mayor Dains stated he believes there is a problem and would like to see the speed limit changed to 25 mph. Council member Christensen suggested determining the extent of the problem using the tube counters or speed cart before adjusting the speed limit. He added he is not opposed to lowering the speed limit; he felt some information is needed first. -2- Council member Doherty stated painted sidewalks might help in slowing traffic on the streets. She indicated where there are painted sidewalks, there is a visual cue to slowdown, even if there is no stop sign present. Council member Hawkinson said she is not happy with the idea of speed bumps or humps. She indicated Lauderdale has newly constructed streets and she is not willing to have holes drilled in the street. She agrees with lowering the speed limit and using counters or speed carts to evaluate the problem. She would like to see more tickets written for speeders. After additional discussion, the Council directed staff to obtain cost information for 25 mph speed limit signs, cross walk painting, and rent of tubular counters or speed carts. The Council also requested the administrator have a resolution prepared lowering the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph for the August 14 Council meeting. Bownik discussed the ice cream cups and lemonade donated by Kathy Lerfeld and Denise Hawkinson for the Music Under the Trees event on Monday, July 16, 2007. He indicated it appeared unclear if the ice cream and lemonade were approved expenses. Bownik outlined the expenses incurred by Kathy for the ice cream cups and requested the Council consider reimbursing Kathy and Denise. Council member Hawkinson stated she did not want reimbursement for the lemonade. She considered it a donation. Council member Gill -Gerbig moved to reimburse Kathy Lerfeld for the ice cream cups. Council member Christensen seconded the motion and it carried. The Council set the agenda for the next meeting: 1) Day in the Park 2) Nuisance Ordinance 3) Speed limits On a motion by Council member Hawkinson and a second by Council member Doherty, the Mayor closed the meeting to discuss pending and threatened litigation with City Attorney Bob Alsop at 8:15 p.m. The City Council reconvened in open session at 9:15 p.m. on a motion by Council member Christensen and a second by Council member Doherty. Heck outlined the updates made to the proposed 2008 Budget. He said he moved $20,000 from the contingency fund to Development and left $15,000 in Contingency; added $25,000 to the General Fund for specific transfer to the Park Improvement Fund; and moved $300,000 from the TIF Project Fund reserve to expenditures for housing projects in 2008. Heck concluded by saying a complete 2008 proposed budget will be ready for the August 14, 2007, Council meeting. -3- The Council took up the nuisance ordinance. Heck reviewed the discussion from the last meeting and indicated the Council is being asked to comment on the next two sections of the ordinance: general nuisances and weeds. Staff went through the proposed and recommended language. Council member Gill -Gerbig expressed concern over some of the language indicating it might be too vague and suggested the definitions be more concise. Following additional discussion and comments, the Council elected to leave the balance of the sections for the next meeting. There being no further items to discuss, Council member Doherty moved to adjourn the meeting. Council member Christensen seconded the motion and the Council adjourned the meeting at 10:15 p.m.