08-28-2023 CC - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Mounds View City Council August 14, 2023 Regular Meeting Page 10 1 collection has been implemented and cities have had to pay damages for unwinding a contract. 2 City Attorney Riggs indicated he was not aware of this. He advised the City Council that there 3 were only 113 charter cities in Minnesota, which makes the process for Mounds View unique. 5 Acting Mayor Meehlhause recalled that Bloomington went forward with organized and a lawsuit 6 was brought forward by citizens. It was turned down initially, it went to the Supreme Court and 7 was ultimately placed on a ballot and it got voted down. The residents voted to continue to be 8 organized. Assistant City Attorney Ketchum reported there were three lawsuits regarding this 9 matter in Bloomington. This item was put to a charter amendment and was voted down by 10 Bloomington residents so they still have organized collection today. 11 12 Rene Johnson, 7385 Pleasant View Drive, stated because there is such community interest in this 13 item, she supported the Council tabling action on this item until there was a full Council. She 14 anticipated more residents would become engaged in this matter over the next three or four months. 15 16 Bob King, 7408 Silver Lake Road, indicated this item was only to negotiate with haulers and has 17 nothing to do with Mounds View going to organized collection. City Administrator Zikmund 18 stated this was a step towards negotiating a price. 19 20 Dr. Strait believed the City was spending a lot of time addressing a matter that did not pertain to a 21 City the size of Mounds View. She explained St. Paul and Bloomington had organized trash 22 collection and both of these communities were a great deal larger than Mounds View. 23 24 Carol Mueller, 8343 Groveland Road, commented her husband had regrets he was not able to 25 attend this meeting. She stated her husband would like to see a resident serving on the negotiating 26 team, because they would be responsible for paying the garbage bill. She reported her husband 27 would be willing to serve on the negotiating team, should this item move forward. She indicated 28 his other concern was that the 3,400 single family homes in Mounds View have a higher tax rate 29 than other properties in the community. She questioned what type of fee, on top of the garbage 30 bill, would be added to residential utility bills. Lastly, she asked who would be fielding calls 31 regarding concerns with garbage service. 32 33 Finance Director Beer reported apartments and commercial properties pay a much higher tax rate 34 than residential properties. 35 36 Council Member Lindstrom asked if the City would be charging an administrative fee to residents 37 for organized trash collection. Finance Director Beer indicated this would be determined by the 38 City Council. His recommendation would be to not have the City do the billing or phone calls. 39 Assistant City Attorney Ketchum indicated the Resolution before the Council would have the City 40 handling the billing and customer service. 41 42 City Administrator Zikmund stated it would be staff s recommendation that the hauler manage the 43 calls. Assistant City Attorney Ketchum reported he could have this protection written into the 44 final contract. 45 46 Dennis Frohm, 7840 Bona Road, reminded the Council that when the haulers were before the City