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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 2024/07/22APPROVED PROCEEDINGS OF THE MOUNDS VIEW CITY COUNCIL CITY OF MOUNDS VIEW RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA Regular Meeting July 22, 2024 Mounds View City Hall 2401 Mounds View Boulevard, Mounds View, MN 55112 6:03 P.M. 1. MEETING IS CALLED TO ORDER 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. ROLL CALL: Cermak, Clark, Gunn, and Lindstrom NOT PRESENT: Meehlhause 4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA A. Monday, July 22, 2024, City Council Agenda. MOTION/SECOND: Gunn/Clark. To Approve the Monday, July 22, 2024, agenda as presented. Ayes – 4 Nays – 0 Motion carried. 5. CONSENT AGENDA Mayor Lindstrom asked to remove Item 5C and 5H. A. Approval of Minutes: July 8, 2024. B. Just and Correct Claims. C. Resolution 9958, Authorizing Separation Compensation for Police Officer Leitch. D. Resolution 9959, Authorizing Additional Compensation for Alexis Bostrom Working in Higher Classification. E. Resolution 9949, Adopting the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act Policy and Designating the Responsible Authority and Compliance Official. F. Resolution 9960, Approving the 2024 Festival in the Park Contract. G. Financial Report for the Quarter Ended June 30, 2024. H. Resolution 9961, Authorizing the Hire of Asa Overton to Community Service Officer. Mounds View City Council July 22, 2024 Regular Meeting Page 2 MOTION/SECOND: Gunn/Clark. To Approve the Consent Agenda as amended removing Items 5C and 5H. Ayes – 4 Nays – 0 Motion carried. C. Resolution 9958, Authorizing Separation Compensation for Police Officer Leitch. Mayor Lindstrom thanked Police Officer Leitch for his dedicated service to the City of Mounds View. MOTION/SECOND: Clark/Cermak. To Waive the Reading and Adopt Resolution 9958, Authorizing Separation Compensation for Police Officer Leitch. Ayes – 4 Nays – 0 Motion carried. H. Resolution 9961, Authorizing the Hire of Asa Overton to Community Service Officer. Mayor Lindstrom welcomed Community Service Officer Asa Overton to the City of Mounds View. MOTION/SECOND: Clark/Cermak. To Waive the Reading and Adopt Resolution 9961, Authorizing the Hire of Asa Overton to Community Service Officer. Ayes – 4 Nays – 0 Motion carried. 6. SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS None. 7. PUBLIC COMMENT Vince Meyer, 8380 Spring Lake Road, explained the City has been working on his road for the past three years. He asked where the accountability was for the contractor. He reported staff originally estimated the work would be done in 42 days and the project was going on three years. He indicated the garbage on his road has still not been cleaned up. He questioned why the City was not fining the contractor. City Attorney Riggs reported staff was in progress of working on this matter and meetings have been set up to deal with the contractors in order to hold the contractor to the terms of the contract documents. Mr. Meyer stated he would like to be communicated with because the residents on Spring Lake Road have no clue what was going on. Mounds View City Council July 22, 2024 Regular Meeting Page 3 CR Barrigan, 7765 Spring Lake Road, expressed concern with the lack of access to his land now that the trail was installed. He reported his lawnmower didn’t have enough power to make the grade and he had to pull it out with his truck. He indicated he spoke with Mr. Peterson regarding this matter and has yet to receive a call back. He discussed how the barriers were three and a half feet tall and the weeds were now taller than the barriers, because he could not mow the area. He shared before and after pictures of the area he was concerned about. He explained he was told the barriers would be removed by the end of June and noted the barriers have not been removed. He requested the City get the barriers removed so he has access to his property. He recommended signs be posted on the trail that states no motorized vehicles allowed. Noëlle Barrigan, 7765 Spring Lake Road, explained the plastic barriers were not visible in the picture because the weeds are so high. She reported she has a riding lawn mower and noted this area could not be mowed because the area has been changed so drastically. Dr. Jean Strait, 7728 Knollwood Drive, reviewed several before and after photographs with the Council. She explained the area was now extremely overgrown and the area was not properly graded. She requested staff follow up with the contractor to ensure the barriers are removed, the invasive weeds are removed and that the area was properly graded to ensure her neighbors have proper access to the water. She recommended the Council complete a property impact study before projects are started in order to better understand how homeowners will be impacted. She asked that the Council begin considering what solutions can be pursued in order to address the mistakes that were made in the project Ms. Barrigan stated a year has passed and nothing has been done to her property. She explained she has spoken to an attorney and an appraiser. She commented on how difficult it would be for her to sell her property as lakeshore property because the property has been destroyed. She indicated this has become a detriment to her and her husband and noted they still pay taxes as a lakeshore property. She commented on how someone helped themselves to their boat, noting because she could no longer see the shoreline because of the tall weeds. Mr. Barrigan anticipated his property value went down at least $10,000 due to the street project. 8. COUNCIL BUSINESS A. Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 1014, Adding a New Chapter 38 to Title II of Mounds View City Code Regarding Discriminatory Covenants – ROLL CALL VOTE. Assistant City Administrator Beeman requested the Council adopt an Ordinance adding a new Chapter 38 to Title II of Mounds View City Code regarding Discriminatory Covenants. He explained the City Council held the first reading for this Ordinance on July 8. He reported this Ordinance would ensure all racial covenants were discharged prior to the point of sale of any home in Mounds View. Staff commented further on the Ordinance and recommended approval. Mayor Lindstrom opened the meeting for public comment. A member of the public asked if there would be any fine for not discharging racial covenants. Mounds View City Council July 22, 2024 Regular Meeting Page 4 Mayor Lindstrom explained an administrative penalty would be charged to residents that do not have their racial covenants discharged before point of sale. He anticipated that most residents in Mounds View would want to take care of this on a voluntary basis. He stated the City Council could escalate the fines in the future if there was a great deal of non-compliance. Luke Edmond, 8407 Spring Lake Road, questioned if the buyer or seller was getting penalized. Mayor Lindstrom reported the seller would be penalized. Catherine Smith, 2142 Bell Lane, inquired what the timeline was to have the racial covenants discharged before fines would be assessed. Mayor Lindstrom indicated the City would work with the homeowner at the time of sale on this matter. He explained a sewer line inspection would have to be completed at the point of sale as well. Sharon Kirscher, 8406 Red Oak Drive, asked how many people have come forward so far to have their racial covenants discharged. Mayor Lindstrom understood that 30 residents have had their racial covenants discharged to date. Mayor Lindstrom closed the meeting for public comment. MOTION/SECOND: Clark/Gunn. To Waive the Second Reading and Adopt Ordinance 1014, Adding a New Chapter 38 to Title II of Mounds View City Code Regarding Discriminatory Covenants. ROLL CALL: Cermak/Clark/Gunn/Lindstrom. Ayes – 4 Nays – 0 Motion carried. Mayor Lindstrom read a statement as to why the community was responsible for doing something about racism. He stated at Alcoholics Anonymous there is a statement, when anyone anywhere reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA to be available and for that I am responsible. He stated when Mounds View began to approach the topic of racial covenants the Council did so through a lens of the legacy of exclusion that racial covenants represent and the hurts associated. He understood racial covenants were a movement after slavery that led to segregation. He appreciated how the City was acknowledging the wrong in racial covenants but wanted to see the City move farther in order to address the foundation of hate and exclusion. He reported the City’s theme was thriving and desirable. He commented on how the Community Engagement Committee had created the slogan, Welcome Home. He discussed how with these themes defining the City, a deeper look was taken into the history of the community and the effects of racism through the Mapping Prejudice project and the awareness that was brought to this issue. He reported Mounds View was four square miles and had 571 racial covenants in place, which averaged to one every 37 feet. He explained in Mounds View hundreds of homes that have language in place that states Mounds View City Council July 22, 2024 Regular Meeting Page 5 this home should not be sold to a person of color. He asked if this was thriving and desirable. He questioned if this language embodied Welcome Home. He discussed how redlining happened in the City and this language was still in place. He understood racial covenants were not enforceable today, but what was the City’s responsibility, what would doing something about covenants do. He asked if doing something about the covenants would begin to heal the hurts of years ago. He reported with the themes of being thriving and desirable as well as embracing Welcome Home, it was the Council’s determination that the City was not living up to who it was supposed to be. For this reason, he believed the City was responsible. When a person of color or any person for that matter moves into one of those homes and signs a deed with those words, the City was responsible. He wanted to ensure no one was excluded from homeownership. He wanted to ensure the children in this community could view a racial covenants map of Mounds View and it would read zero. He believed the City was responsible for either leaving the foundation of racial covenants in place, or finishing the job and taking out that foundation and building a new foundation that was welcoming for all. He stated anything successful has a good foundation. He was proud of the fact Mounds View was the first community to make a commitment to shatter this foundation and build a new welcoming one. In summary, like the AA statement, whenever the City is confronted with something, such as a legacy of racism through language in deeds, he wanted to see the City being responsible for it in order to bring about healing of the hurts of the past. He reported this was the reason the City has proactively mailed every home the instructions and forms needed to discharge the racial covenants that were in place and the City would be covering the cost. He indicated all residents selling their home would have to have racial covenants discharged prior to the sale of their home and it was now illegal to have racial covenants in place in Mounds View. He stated this would be the way Mounds View takes responsibility for this issue. When people ask is Mounds View a thriving and desirable community that embraces its motto of Welcome Home, we can say yes because the City went back to the beginning of overt racism and did something about it in the present. He thanked everyone who has had a hand in getting the City to this point. He also wanted to thank his fellow Councilmembers. He appreciated the fact he had an amazing team that has voted unanimously to support this issue. He stated today the City was laying new bricks together in order to build a new foundation that was welcoming for everyone. He appreciated how the City and community were taking responsibility uniting in one purpose to be able to say Welcome Home Mounds View. B. Resolution 9962, Approving the Purchase of Additional Concrete Panels for an Outside Material Storage Bin. Public Works/Parks and Recreation Director Peterson requested the Council approve the purchase of additional concrete panels for an outside material storage bin. He explained the 10 panels were needed for an outside storage bin for street sweepings at Public Works. Mayor Lindstrom asked if the City would be paid for the sand. Public Works/Parks and Recreation Director Peterson reported the City would not be paid, but it would also not be charged for the sand. MOTION/SECOND: Gunn/Clark. To Waive the Reading and Adopt Resolution 9962, Approving the Purchase of Additional Concrete Panels for an Outside Material Storage Bin. Mounds View City Council July 22, 2024 Regular Meeting Page 6 Ayes – 4 Nays – 0 Motion carried. 9. REPORTS A. Reports of Mayor and Council. Council Member Gunn stated Night to Unite would be held on Tuesday, August 6. She encouraged residents to register their neighborhood party with the Mounds View Police Department. Council Member Gunn indicated she attended the recent Cable Commission meeting. She noted the Cable Commission would be hosting Speak Outs for city council candidates. Council Member Clark stated the next Festival in the Park meeting would be held on July 30 at 6:30 p.m. at Public Works. She encouraged the public to attend the upcoming Festival in the Park which would be held on Friday, August 16 and Saturday, August 17. Council Member Cermak noted she would be attending a Fire Board meeting on Thursday, July 25 in East Bethel. Council Member Gunn reported the Tribute Park Committee would be meeting next on Tuesday, July 30 at 6:30 p.m. Council Member Gunn explained Park and Rec would be hosting a Picnic in the Park at Silver View Park on Tuesday, July 30 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Council Member Gunn reported the Ramsey County Meet and Greet would be held on Tuesday, July 30 at 6:00 p.m. Council Member Clark stated there was a Popsicles in the Park event on Thursday, July 25 at the Splash Pad. Mayor Lindstrom explained NBC reached out to him and would be running the story in the near future. Mayor Lindstrom stated the Medallion Hunt would begin on Wednesday, August 14. Mayor Lindstrom reported on Friday, August 2 he would begin his service as Chairman of the Clemency Committee. B. Reports of Staff. Public Works/Parks and Recreation Director Peterson provided the Council with an update on the street project. He explained he would be holding a meeting with the contractor on Tuesday, July 23 at 8:00 a.m. He reported the City was working with the City Attorney and a letter has been sent to the bond company. He commented further on the 10 items that were remaining on the punch list. He understood residents were frustrated and noted staff was frustrated with the contractor as well. He indicated the barrier could be pulled below the wall, but the City would then be in Mounds View City Council July 22, 2024 Regular Meeting Page 7 violation of the LGU because 70% vegetation has to be established before the barrier is removed. He explained he was relying on the inspector to state when the barrier can be removed. It was his understanding the area was not at 70% at this time. He indicated the project was supposed to be closed out on June 30 and the City has talked to the City Attorney about liquidated damages. Mayor Lindstrom questioned when the area would be reassessed and did the area have to be reseeded. Public Works/Parks and Recreation Director Peterson reported a MNDOT spec for seed was to be put in this area and this was to germinate. He stated if this does not occur, the contractor would be responsible for reseeding this area. He indicated the grading of this area would be addressed after the project was closed out. C. Reports of City Attorney. City Attorney Riggs had nothing additional to report. 10. Next Council Work Session: Monday, August 5, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. Next Council Meeting: Monday, August 12, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. 11. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:54 p.m. Transcribed by: Heidi Guenther Minute Maker Secretarial