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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes January 6, 2004 Page 11 1 and many other amenities. Mr. Ranallo stated that when the Northwest Quadrant is developed, 2 you can soon move up there and that will save money on taxes. 3 4 Mr. Ranallo urged the City Council to build the fire station where the Study Group 5 recommended due to response time. He explained that they had an emergency call at Kensington 6 Terrace and the ambulance got there before the fire truck so the temporary location is not a good 7 location for response time. Mr. Ranallo stated if the Council wants to relocate the fire station,he 8 would suggest a location right across from the Kensington. However, that would not be good for 9 the complete City because it needs to be in the middle of the City. 10 11 Eric Lindgren, 3408 Silver Lake Road, stated he is hearing there is not a lot of community 12 involvement and that was a problem with the petition. He stated he knows they are 18 months 13 late but they are trying to see what they can do now. Mr. Lindgren stated when they were going 14 door-to-door, residents said they do not know how to get involved. He estimated that 80%of the 15 people he talked'with asked how the decision was made to build at the top of the hill on the 16 busiest street in St. Anthony. Mr. Lindgren stated they did not"twist arms"to get signatures on 17 the petition and those people wanted to know how to get involved. He stated public involvement 18 was lacking in the decision making process. 19 20 Tom Sletten, 3220 Skycoft Drive, stated he has been a resident for twenty and a half years and 21 enjoyed living in the Village. He stated this is an interesting issue that has developed as a result 22 of the fire station and he wanted to talk about what people indicated when talking about the fire 23 station. Mr. Sletten stated some people said a fire station is somewhat invisible since people are 24 busy with other things and it does not become a reality until the site is selected and you drive by 25 it every day. He pointed out that had the bid gone through on schedule, it would be under 26 construction and this discussion would not occur. But, sometimes things happen for a reason 27 and when opportunities present themselves,people should get involved and those people are 28 asking to take another look. He read an editorial that he had drafted suggesting it is an excellent 29 opportunity to take another look at where the fire station should be located. He stated that he 30 and other Villagers who signed the petition would like the City Council to look at the location 31 through an open forum which would show the Council is interested in the public's concern. 32 33 George Marks, 3424 Silver Lake Road, stated he has lived at that location for over 30 years and 34 appreciates the Council's open forum tonight. Mr. Marks stated he spent eight years on the 35 Planning Commission and after that 20 years on the City Council. He stated that he noted early 36 on as a new Councilmember that the meeting packets contained a lot of background information 37 from various departments of the City. He particularly remembered the reports from the Fire 38 Department related to the number and types of calls. At first, about 50%were fire calls and 50% 39 were medical calls. But, over the years, the number of medical calls has increased. 40 41 Mr. Marks explained that as the Council also looked at how to reduce costs to fund the Fire 42 Department, it was mentioned that for every medical call,the fire truck also responds. It was 43 explained that the fire truck responds to medical calls in case a fire call is received during the 44 medical call. Then the firefighters don't have to return to the fire station to get the big fire truck. 45 Mr. Marks stated that the packets also included letters from many residents for whom there had 46 been a medical call, thanking the firemen for saving the life of a family member. He stated it