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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC MINUTES 10272015CITY OF ST. ANTHONY CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 27, 2015 4 5 CALL TO ORDER. 6 7 Mayor Faust called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 8 9 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. 10 11 Mayor Faust invited the Council and audience to join him in the Pledge of Allegiance. 12 13 ROLL CALL. 14 15 Present: 16 Absent: 17 Also Present: 18 19 20 CONSIDERATION, DISCUSSION, AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON ALL OF THE FOLLOWING 21 ITEMS. 22 23 I. 24 25 26 27 28 29 Mayor Faust; Councilmembers Brever, and Jenson Councilmembers Gray and Stille City Manager Mark Casey, 30 II. 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 27, 2015, CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA. Motion by Councilmember Brever, seconded by Councilmember Jenson, to approve the City Council Meeting Agenda of October 27, 2015. Motion carried unanimously. PROCLAMATIONS AND RECOGNITIONS A. Presentation of Nourish 282 by Julie Pierce Ms. Julie Pierce, Executive Director of Nourish 282 reviewed Nourish 282 is a local outreach program started with a mission to help families in need throughout the St. Anthony/New Brighton School District (District 282). Nourish 282 has programs serving children within the District, weekend food supplement, Free Winter Store, and gift card supplements. The largest initiative is a partnership with The Sheridan Story, providing free food bags for students to take home on Fridays. They are currently providing more than 50 students with weekend food within all of the schools (Community Services, Wilshire Park, SAMS and SAVHS). All food is non- perishable and each bag contains one canned vegetable and fruit, one protein, one ready to serve item and rice, beans or pasta. It only takes $131 to feed one student for the entire school year. The Sheridan Story is a non - profit out of Northeast Minneapolis that partners with community organizations and churches to provide weekend food backs for food insecure students in the metro area. The Sheridan Story is currently serving more than 3,500 students in more than 60 metro schools. Ms. Pierce stated 1 in 6 children are hungry with the most being in the suburbs. Ms. Pierce stated in addition to the weekend food program, a Free Winter Outerwear Store is hosted. The Free Store took place on Monday, October 12`h at Wilshire Park. Families were invited to come and shop from donated jackets, snow pants, boots, etc. This year 25 students City Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 27, 2015 Page 2 1 were outfitted from head -to -toe with warm gear for the winter. Nourish 282 is hoping to provide 2 small grocery gift cards during the holiday break for families enrolled in the weekend food 3 program. 4 5 Nourish 282 is managed by an all - volunteer work force and raises funds from generous and 6 committed community members. They are seeking to create ongoing partnerships with local 7 businesses, churches, and civic groups to help serve the local families in need. They are grateful 8 for the support of the school leadership and local community who understand that when children 9 are helped the future is also shaped. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Ms. Pierce provided a list of Frequently Asked Questions for Council review. The website is www.nourish282.com Councilmember Brever thanked Julie for filling this need in the community and asked if outerwear can still be donated. Ms. Pierce stated they have just wrapped up that program but there are many coat drives starting up. Wilshire Park and the community center are running short of those supplies. Councilmember Jenson asked how long Nourish 282 has been in place and Ms. Pierce stated just one year. They are still referring to themselves as a project or a program and hope to obtain their non -profit status within the next few months. Councilmember Jenson asked if this was similar to other programs and Ms. Pierce stated it is a unique program. She stated they are fortunate to be partnered with the Sheridan Story. Mayor Faust asked if Ms. Pierce was a teacher at Wilshire and Ms. Pierce stated she is not a teacher but a mom. She has been involved in the community and she is a Minneapolis resident. III. CONSENT AGENDA. A. Consider October 13, 2015, City Council meeting minutes B. Licenses and Permits C. Claims Motion by Councilmember Jenson seconded by Councilmember Brever, to approve the Consent Agenda items as presented. Motion carried unanimously. 38 IV. PUBLIC HEARING - NONE. 39 40 V. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF - NONE 41 42 VI. GENERAL BUSINESS OF COUNCIL 43 44 A. Resolution 15 -063: a Resolution Authorizing Access and Utility Easement for T- Mobile 45 at St. Anthony Middle School 46 47 City Manager Mark Casey reviewed this item is an Access and Utility Easement for T- Mobile at 48 the location of St. Anthony Middle School. The Easement will allow T- Mobile to provide City Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 27, 2015 Page 3 utilities underground versus on top of the building to connect to the antenna facilities at St. Anthony Middle School. A representative from T- Mobile is present at the meeting this evening. 4 Mayor Faust stated this seems like a wise thing to put the lines underground rather than above 5 the ground. Mayor Faust asked if a pneumatic gopher would be used and the T- Mobile 6 representative stated he believes that would be used but is not entirely sure. It will be done in the 7 most cost effective quickest way possible. Mayor Faust stated that may not be the way the City 8 wants it done. 9 10 Councilmember Brever asked once the underground work is done will there be a need to go 11 through the high school. Brandon Peterson from T- Mobile stated it will come into the back of the 12 school and run up the backside of the building. 13 14 City Manager Casey stated a City staff person will be watching this project, as there are a lot of 15 utilities in that area to ensure no utilities are hit. 16 17 Motion by Councilmember Brever, seconded by Councilmember Jenson to approve Resolution 18 15 -063; a Resolution Authorizing Access and Utility Easement for T- Mobile at St. Anthony 19 Middle School. 20 21 Motion carried unanimously. 22 23 B. Resolution 15 -064 a Resolution Ratifying the Pension Benefit for the St. Anthony Village 24 Firefighters Relief Association 25 26 City Manager Casey reviewed the State Auditor's pension division has contacted the Saint 27 Anthony Village Firefighter's Relief Association ( SAVFR). The pension division is advising 28 SAVFR to seek the City Council's approval of the 2014 and 2015 benefit increases as voted 29 upon by the Association. The City Council's last approval of a benefit increase was for the 2013 30 benefit amount $2,800. The SAVFR's request for Council approval of the 2014 and 2015 31 increases along with a resolution to do so. The pension plan is funded by Fire Relief State Aid, 32 investment earnings and the City of St. Anthony annual contribution of $6,000. 33 34 City Manager Casey stated Ms. Shelly Rueckert attended the Fire Relief Board meetings and 35 Association meetings, which involved the management of the SAVFR Pension plan. The Board 36 uses a defined process to evaluate whether a benefit increase is financially reasonable given 37 certain pension financial factors. The goal of the evaluation process is to maintain a fully funded 38 pension plan; balanced with keeping the benefit amount at a level that is an equitable share of 39 plan assets for retiring members. Councilmember Jenson is also an ex- officio member along with 40 Ms. Rueckert. 41 42 The process resulted in the benefit level being increased to $3,000 and $3,300 in 2014 and 2015 43 respectively. The pension funding levels before and after the increases are as follows: 44 45 Funding % Before Funding % After 46 2014 113.8% $106.7% 47 2015 116.3% $106.5% 48 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 27, 2015 Page 4 1 Staff recommends City Council's approval of the benefit levels as voted upon by the 2 Association. 3 4 Motion by Councilmember Jenson seconded by Councilmember Brever, to Q12rove Resolution 5 15 -064; a Resolution Ratifying the Pension Benefit for the St Anthonv Villaize Firefighter 6 Relief Association. 7 8 Motion carried unanimously 9 10 C. GreenCorp Presentation by Kristin Seaman 11 12 City Manager Casey introduced Ms. Kristin Seaman, the City's Greencorp Member. He noted 13 this is the second Greencorp member the City has had. Greencorp is funded by the Minnesota 14 Pollution Control Agency at no cost to the City. Eleven months of full -time employment are 15 received by the City. 16 17 Ms. Seaman provided a Power Point presentation regarding Minnesota Greencorps Member. She 18 explained what MN Greencorps is, gave an introduction of her background, and reviewed her 19 area of focus. Ms. Seaman's goal is to contribute to the City's commitment to sustainability 20 through service and projects. 21 22 Ms. Seaman stated the program is funded through the Americorps program (Federal) and the 23 PCA (State). There are 40 different Greencorps members throughout the State this year. Ms. 24 Seaman will be in St. Anthony working from September 2015 through August 2016. Her area of 25 focus is the storm water track under the green infrastructure track. She has been given flexibility 26 by the City Manager to participate in some other programs in addition. 27 28 Ms. Seaman stated her areas of focus will be City Sustainability, Fix It Clinic and Tech Dump, 29 Updating the City website, rain barrel workshops feedback and improvements, residential rain 30 gardens, spring clean-up day, City bike and pedestrian improvements, and MS4 permitting. She 31 will work with the schools in teaching an ecology club, earth week and volunteerism for the Key 32 Club, K -Kids, Student Council and National Honor Society. She will increase visibility of 33 recycling in schools. She will also work on the Step 4 GreenStep (MPCA Program). Ms. Seaman 34 will network with community members, citizens for sustainability and faith organizations, 35 watershed districts, and multifamily recycling studies. She will participate in training 36 opportunities such as MDS Calculator, Confined Entry Training and Master Water Steward 37 Training. The Sustainability Fair will be held Thursday, November 19, 2015, 5:30 — 8 p.m. at 38 Silverwood Park. She is anxious to learn from the professionals. 39 40 Councilmember Jenson stated he is impressed with the engagement with the schools to plant 41 sustainability issues with the youth. 42 43 Mayor Faust stated being a Commissioner on the Mississippi Water Management Organization 44 for some time he realized they could get through to the residents through the students. Students 45 move onto the next grade level and the science teachers need to be bought into the system. 46 Mayor Faust suggested if some funding is needed the MWMO is a great source for funding 47 especially for new and innovative ways. 48 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 27, 2015 Page 5 1 Mayor Faust encouraged Ms. Seaman, during her meetings at the school, to discuss with the 2 teachers what they are looking for and ways to leverage some of that money into fostering a 3 program that lives long into the future. Mayor Faust welcomed Ms. Seaman to the City and 4 stated the City is very involved in sustainability of all things. D. Third Quarter Goals Update 8 City Manager Casey provided an update on the Strategic Initiatives including Environmental 9 Stewardship, Quality Infrastructure, Robust Technology, Quality Housing & Commercial/ 10 Industrial Businesses, Inclusive "Village" and Safe, Sound and Progressive Community. The 11 update included action steps, responsibility, and comments. The next update will be held after 12 the first of the year. 13 14 Mayor Faust stated it appears we have come up with a new list but many of these items are 15 ongoing. Not mentioned was implement organized collection was one of the City's goals for a 16 long time. Another goal the City has had for a long time is the Fix -It Clinic and the sustainable 17 house remodel project, which is underway. 18 19 Mayor Faust stated he appreciates all of staff s hard work to do the things that makes this City 20 truly different in terms of being progressive. 21 22 VII. REPORTS FROM CITY MANAGER AND COUNCIL MEMBERS. 23 24 City Manager Casey reported on the Fix It Clinic. There were 55 people that brought 83 items 25 and of those 83 items 64 were fixed (77% rate) and 519 pounds were diverted from the waste 26 stream. There was also a TechDump held and there were 3792 pounds of items that were 27 recycled. 28 29 Mayor Faust commented 519 pounds out of the waste stream was excellent and it is good to see 30 people are being more cautious and re -using items when they can. Those are great things for the 31 community to embrace. 32 33 Councilmember Brever stated last Friday, she attended an Active Living Hennepin County 34 Workshop where Dr. Edward Ellinger spoke. 35 36 Councilmember Jenson stated last night he attended the Fire Department Relief Association's 37 Monthly Meeting. Last week he had several discussions with the History Committee. They are 38 finding how to best market the book "More Pigs Than People" and are also preparing for their 39 annual meeting. 40 41 Mayor Faust reviewed on October 20 he attended the Chamber of Commerce Monthly Meeting, 42 along with the City Manager. At the meeting, security was discussed in terms of small 43 businesses. 44 45 On October 21, Mayor Faust attended the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association Regional 46 Meeting and the City is fortunate to have its liquor operations manager and staff. Mike Larson is 47 well respected in that group and the City should be grateful to have him as our liquor manager. City Council Regular Meeting Minutes October 27, 2015 Page 6 On October 22, Mayor Faust stated there was a candidate meet and greet put on by the Chamber. Councilmembers Gray and Brever were also in attendance. 4 Earlier today, the City Manager and Mayor Faust attended the Association of Advancement of 5 Sustainability in Higher Education Conference where people were talking about sustainability 6 from all over the U.S. and Canada. There were 750 attendees. City Manager Casey and Mayor 7 Faust were on a panel and 40 -50 people attended this panel discussion. St. Anthony is held in 8 high regard when it comes to sustainability. 10 VIII. COMMUNITY FORUM. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Mayor Faust invited residents to come forward at this time and address the Council on items that are not on the regular agenda. Hearing none, Mayor Faust moved forward with the agenda. IX. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. November 3, 2015, is the election for City Council and School Board. X. ADJOURNMENT. Mayor Faust adjourned the meeting at 7:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Wolfe TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. ATTEST: c //I Ci lerk Mayor