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• MOUNDS VIEW CITY COUNCIL MINUTES FEBRUARY 22, 1999 7:00 P.M. 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Coughlin. { ~ ~~~~°' 2. ROLL CALL: Mayor Coughlin, Council Members Stigney, Thomason. Absent: Marty, Quick. • 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Additional corrections for February 8 meeting minutes, Page 1, third paragraph from the bottom, report says Mr. Marty attended the planning commission, should be Mr. Stigney. Page four, item 9E, spellings for names, Ordeen, Braathen, Laube, Hegland, Kahn. Motion/Second: Thomason/Stigney. To approve minutes for January 25, and February 8, 1999. Ayes - 3. Nays-0. Motion passes. 4. SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS: State of the City address, Mayor Dan Coughlin. Mayor Coughlin stated: Fellow neighbors, in keeping with the City's charter, I, as your mayor, am required to give you a message on the state of the City. It is traditional in addresses like these that the Mayor speak of all of the Council doings in the last year, all of the accomplishments that it was a part of and listing the occasional struggles that we still deal with. I don't have any energy, nor do I have any desire to list things that have already been covered by a great degree by cable television and by our newspapers. And, medical science has found other ways to put people to sleep other than just have the Mayor talk about old news. We as a city face normal struggles that every other city our size faces. The demands of services versus demands for lower taxes. The pressure to rebuild, versus the desire to preserve some of our past, and the overall struggle for the average citizen to be heard above all of the other voices that come screaming at City Hall. To mention a list of the accomplishments that this City has made would only speak to what we have done. This is the part that usually gets the lions' share of our attention. However, the other side of the coin is not about what we have done, but is about who we are. I submit to you that it has been long over due for someone to discuss the state of the City in the context of who we are. I have often wondered what makes Mounds View different than any other suburb here in the Twin Cities. We don't have any national monuments within our boundaries, we don't have any world famous people that were born here, there are no real tourist attractions or historical sites for people to visit here contained in our four square miles. And, to add insult to injury, we have a major highway cutting right through the heart of our town. • So, what makes this City more than just a place that people drive through on their way home from work. We the people, the citizens and neighbors who built this town and call it our home. We are the reason that the City is special. So then, from what is the state of our City in respect to its greatest